DM Ruins Game Trying to Emulate Critical Role

DM Ruins Game Trying to Emulate Critical Role | D&D Horror Story

Рет қаралды 7,453

20 күн бұрын

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This dungeon master tears his D&D group to the ground, loses all his players, because he tried to emulate Matt Mercer and Critical Role.
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@theDMLair 20 күн бұрын

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@JKevinCarrier 19 күн бұрын

The irony of these "Mercer Effect" stories is that the DMs in question never seem interested in the actual qualities that make Mercer a good DM in the first place. Matt Mercer would never go around copying someone else's campaign, or make his player re-create scenes that someone else already did. So why would this DM think that's an appropriate thing to do? If you want to be like Mercer, aspire to be as creative and original as he is!

@scottwalker6947 19 күн бұрын

I've never understood the so-called "Mercer Effect"? How could anyone think their GM can directly compete with a trained and professional actor?

@xdrkcldx 19 күн бұрын

because they are obsessed with a specific thing and want emulate it as much as possible.

@CountAdolfo 18 күн бұрын

@@scottwalker6947 um, it's actually not difficult to be a better GM than a 'trained and professional actor' - because a GM is not either of those things. Critical Roll is a show. It's meant to play to an audience. It's not a game like you'd play at your house. Matt's a great DM, but it's NOT because he's a 'trained and professional actor' - not at all.

@SJH2 18 күн бұрын

@@CountAdolfothank you for pointing that out. It blows my mind when people say he’s “professional” or an “actor”…. Dude just has an exceptional imagination and a love for the game and that’s why he’s a great GM. They were bare bones on production when they first hit geek and sundry but his GMing felt the same then as it does now with a budget. He’s just good cause he loves it.

@scottwalker6947 18 күн бұрын

@@CountAdolfo Oh, believe me I know. I don't even believe CR is a Game...I feel it is a staged story with a D&D edge. However, the Mercer Effect is people being disappointed with their GMs not being as good as Matt Mercer, and his profession has a lot more to do with his skill as a GM as you feel. He has made it his profession, so he is going to be really good as a GM. Most GMs aren't professional, and won't be any where near as good. I know I sure as Hell aren't anywhere near as good a GM as Matt is.

@jonsaucy8440 19 күн бұрын

I tell players all the time: as DMs, we’re quite possibly the most creative people within the community. And while we must protect games from being broken by mechanics or ruined by people lacking good faith; the greatest obstacle we must all overcome is “control”. It’s difficult to build a bike then watch someone ride it backwards. Or craft a boat only for others to try and make it fly. But I’m also very forthcoming that achieving “I’m quite ok with how you choose to interact with my product” is one of the most freeing things you can achieve in DMing. Yes you still need to maintain boundaries, but you soon realize they are quite macro in nature. I build bikes in the hopes my players enjoy riding them, experimenting with them, and I hope they take the players to amazing places and tell amazing stories. I’ve learned to get out of my players way; and ended up getting out of my own way at the same time.

@BrentHollett 18 күн бұрын

Matt Mercer has been a voice actor for decades and has a production team...

@brianinthepark5429 19 күн бұрын

The face from the three minute mark was worth my ten minutes. LOLS. ~ Brian

@queenannsrevenge100 19 күн бұрын

If I had a dime for every GM that messed up due to the “Matt Mercer” effect, I’d own every RPG supplement ever.

@justinmargerum2559 18 күн бұрын

This wasn't even about copying Matt Mercer's style, this was about performing reruns of Critical Role episodes. They might as well have just printed out scripts for everyone to read and act. Imagine playing a "Star Wars" TTRPG, but only playing the main on-screen characters, and only doing exactly what those characters did in the movies and having events only play out exactly as they did in the movies. That's this game.

@Saiyijon 19 күн бұрын

CR's entire cast is comprised of highly successful voice actors who have spent years honing the craft of becoming a character. When the average table tries to do that, it is going to end up awkward and will likely result in people getting way too aggressive because they don't know how to subtely play a role.

@euanthompson 19 күн бұрын

The so called "Mercer Effect" is quite frustrating and isn't unique to him. "That isn't how X does it" or "Why don't we play like X" or "How do I find a GM like X" (that last one I saw posted several times on various forums) are just proof people haven't really thought out how the game works. I am pretty sure I remember Matt telling people not to do that and that he hates it.

@kylearigo2300 19 күн бұрын

I feel guilty because I do STEAL scenes and ideas, but mix and match them with other things that makes it unique, hope that doesn't mean I would lose all my players 😢

@xenomyst 19 күн бұрын

All DMs steal ideas from each other, from media, etc

@ivanmartinez498 19 күн бұрын

it is very hard to be original nowadays to be quite honest. somehow someway something you have done has probably already been done what matters is how well you execute and to be honest how much your players know. i read a story where this dm basically made a home brew ripping exactly from WoW but his players had no idea what WoW was so they had fun, the dm had fun no harm no foul. At the end of the day DnD is about fun and if everyone is having fun then nothing else matters

@kylearigo2300 19 күн бұрын

@@ivanmartinez498 hahaha there was this moment where the player recognize what story I was basing off and we just had a very awkward moment XD

@WouldbeSage 18 күн бұрын

All artists borrow. Great artists steal.

@rickbezoski682 19 күн бұрын

I think MM would also be the first to say, be inspired (by multiple sources), take notes, then create your own style on these good bases.

@euanthompson 19 күн бұрын

Any DM who attempts to tell their players they must do something all the time deserves no players. The number of times you can legitimately say to your players "You must do this" can be counted on one hand per 1-20 campaign, assuming it ever happens.

@scottwalker6947 19 күн бұрын

This is the product of "there is no wrong way to play D&D."

@pptemplar5840 18 күн бұрын

I think it's more a product of certain individuals deciding there is a "correct way" to play D&D. There really isn't a wrong way to play ASSUMING PEOPLE ACTUALLY WANT TO. If a group of nerds just wanted to get together and fanboy over CR more power too them, but just assuming an entire play group SHOULD just essentially remove themselves from the game in order to play a part in your live action CR fan fiction is just weaaponized 'tism.

@chriswillis3571 19 күн бұрын

There's a Tal'dori campaign book specifically for groups who want to play Crit. Role at their tables. But using it should be something the whole table wants to do, just like any other campaign book

@Verildan 16 күн бұрын

The only thing I have stolen from Matt Mercer as a DM is the line, "How do you want to do this?" Having players put a personal spin on how they land the final blow on an enemy or monster is a great way to get them engaged and excited for not just themselves but for each other. We all get excited to hear what each player comes up with. my wizard player explaining how they manage to artfully form a fireball to look like themselves without stretched arms and have it look as though it was giving the ogre berserker a hug right before it exploded. It was one of my favorite moments at our table; it was wacky and really brought to life the characters unique style of magic in a way that, up until then, had not been expanded upon except for early game character introductions.

@SJH2 18 күн бұрын

Matt Mercer is good because he has a great imagination and a love for the game. Couple that with a story you want to tell and a group made up of your best friends, and you have epic gaming. It wasn’t that they are “professional voice actors” or a budget. Hell, they started at Geek and Sundry with paper drawn maps and less than stellar production and we (or I at least) was captivated then. I guess all that is to say, if you have all the initial ingredients to make a good home game like they did, your game nights should be just fine without trying to emulate anyone else.

@MechbossBoogie 18 күн бұрын

Thankfully I've never run into the Mercer effect in my games. I've had a lot of people tell me I got the idea for things from specific books that I'd never heard of before. The simple truth about the matter there is that we both got the inspiration for that idea from mythology and went in a similar direction with it.

@ericley6479 19 күн бұрын

Its funny because there are entire real play series' where the concept is that they play out a movie as a TTRPG, but the fun is in how off script the game ends up going compared to the movie.

@kennethslayor8177 18 күн бұрын

The best gaming experience I have ever played in was with a group of thespians, everyone except me was a theater minor. They improved a lot and would relish the challenge of making the random effects decided by the dice make sense theatrically. We mostly played in the Story Teller system. That said, I still miss the wargame style of play from before first edition. There are practically no decent TT war games anymore. They all rely on fantasy and science fantasy. There is nothing like Alexander the Great, Feudal, Queen Boudicca, etc. - games based on history and tactics. Back in the day, Greyhawk had stats where you could fight armies between nations while also playing the RP side within the series of events occurring on the map. You could do similar with FASA's Mechwarrior game. While the RP stuff is fun, it just seems like we have lost half the industry.

@CountAdolfo 18 күн бұрын

Back when I first started GMing, before Matt Mercer was BORN... I used to get some weird looks because I did voices for NPCs in my games. There were three other DMs in the area running D&D (this is pre-1e and 1e, we're talking about, here...) and all three of them did very narration style gameplay. Nothing wrong with that. Not knocking it. It was their style... and they were comfortable with it, and their players were, too. So, when I first saw Matt Mercer doing it on CR, I said to my son "Hey! He DMs a bit like I do..." ONLY referring to the assignment of voices and accents to NPCs and such. He does things in his games I'd not do. I'm sure I do things in my games that he'd not do. That doesn't make either of us wrong. This notion that one has to copy Matt Mercer... or Brennan Lee Mulligan... or ANYONE else, for that matter... is ridiculous. Back in the day, NONE of the other three DMs in my area started copying me. They thought I looked and sounded silly... but I had grown up learning voices from Muppets, and such, so, I just did voices because I thought it made the interactions more interesting than: "The bartender tells you he heard a story from Jonas Cartha, a farmer out on the very edge of town, that there are monsters in the woods near his property." Again, there's nothing wrong with that type of narrative GMing, especially if the players are OK with it and maybe wanna do it the same way when describing their characters: "I tell the bartender we appreciate it and usher Doofus McDoodlebrain out of the Inn before he gets us all tossed out of town." I just felt like actually voicing the NPCs made them more... real... and, hey, I was a kid, OK? A kid who watched and imitated Muppets. So, Matt''s style was familiar to me in that aspect, but he goes into great depth describing gore - rather often - and that's not me. His "how do you wanna do this", however, I found interesting and have adopted something similar into my own games - but that's not copying - it's borrowing elements. What Matt Mercer does REALLY well, that the guy in the story, here, doesn't... is Matt KNOWS HIS PLAYERS. THAT, not accents or voices or acting talent... THAT makes a great GM. Clearly, this GM in the story didn't know his players, and that's why half of them left.

@vickieden1973 18 күн бұрын

This is basically a case of someone being a massive fan of an IP and wanting their game to play out exactly like that IP, it isn't even "the Mercer Effect". I had two GMs do exactly this long before Critical Role or even 5th Edition ever existed. One guy tried to have us be bit players in a Faerun novel series he loved (doing support stuff so that the real heroes could save the day, apparently), and also strongarmed the barbarian (who was actually quite intelligent and insightful) into a stupid romance plot where he was narrated into having a one night stand with an NPC he'd just met and didn't trust. Another GM wanted to play a Mechwarrior game and follow the events that led up to a specific battle, but kept it secret from the party until we figured out we were, again, minor characters in someone else's story. In both cases, the game died and both the players and the GM were left feeling very unhappy about how it all went.

@jierdareisa4313 16 күн бұрын

I love ALL the DM Lair videos!!!! ❤

@Clem68W 19 күн бұрын

I remember like, third? Might have been fourth grade. First time playing and dmbro routinely used Conan characters and characters like 'Obmar the ranger' or 'tHe-Man the barbarian'. Not really the same thing, but cute.

@jacquelinejones7787 19 күн бұрын

Also, everyone has their own style and Mercer is not some sort of platonic ideal for GM. If you really want to find your style in a deep way, you have to just do it a lot and see what feels good for you and your table. Additionally, If you're going to watch one professional do it, you need to watch several so that you can see not just many gm styles and methods, but a huge variety of players and how their playstyles interacting with the GM and each other

@Darkwintre 19 күн бұрын

Huh that dm is literally trying to prove the Matt Mercer effect with the Critical Role Obsession! My dm couldn't shake his obsession, but he couldn't even attempt that kind of stuff unless he talked with the others beforehand which I didn't know about that. if they did that I'm gratefull they didn't let me know, so assume thats something they're entirely innocent of even if they tried copying some of the characters to a limited degree.

@rail7646 19 күн бұрын

actually players that complain about dm's on reddit are the worst, worse than railroading dm's they bend the truth to rely on beeing a victim. Theres no point to do that. If you don't fit - leave.

@AllyOJustice 17 күн бұрын

I can't judge as I also have Matt Mercer syndrome: I too desperately want to create a story with perfect setups and callbacks with stakes that keep players invested while perfectly interweaving their backstories either by creating side-missions that focus on them or even weaving those backstory elements into major events.

@TvorCrl 19 күн бұрын

I think presenting characters with scenes from critical role is fine. Requiring or expecting players to make decisions that matches the story is stupid. The players are ultimately going to derail the DMs plans and there will be frustration for either the DM or the players. Let your players play and create their own story. If it changes the canon of critical role and that’s frustrating to the DM then the DM shouldn’t be running it that way.

@Buy_YT_Views.792 19 күн бұрын

the best channel I know

@andrewsegal4734 18 күн бұрын

Love your videos. Would help if you explained what critical role is.

@genghisgalahad8465 19 күн бұрын

This is me, though, that my players sometimes think I'm Matt Mercer. And they don't know what Critical Role even is! 😆 Could you imagine how people would react if I made a fool of myself and even tried something so sillly? There's emulating ✅️ and there's imitating ❌️.

@kilersocke 16 күн бұрын

Build the world, create the life of NPCs, be the referee over the rules, set the scenes and shut up and watch your world burn probably.

@VengerSatanis 19 күн бұрын

Cha'alt!

@jonsosebee1689 19 күн бұрын

Mercer effect people need to watch the original point break (because it would be a waste of time)

@GeraldKatz 7 күн бұрын

The actors of Critical Role, when out of character, are hilarious. They do wonderful improv. When playing the game I hate their characters and player choices. They are drama queens and engage in player vs player behavior. I do not want to play with them. I know Orion had issues off camera back in the day, but only going by what he did on camera as Tiberius they owe him an apology. They did far worse than he has done.

@bamboozledgreatcrowd8982 19 күн бұрын

When will players and DMs learn CR is no better than us. I play every week, and we do the same thing they do.

@DnDandVideoGames 19 күн бұрын

The issue with people watching Critical Role is that they are watching the show, and not playing the game. Anyone who has spent considerable amount of time playing D&D, either online or at home, have probably played with DMs just as good as Matt Mercer. I've played games where I thought the DM was better than MM, and people who have played in my games said the same about me (and let's be real, they were probably just being nice). People just need to go outside and touch grass more.

@Lionrhod212 5 күн бұрын

Just wow! Now Matt and his crew are pretty talented and fun to watch, but that doesn't mean you should try to BE them. The big crime here is taking away player agency. Even if you as a DM are going to set me up with a premise that I've already seen on video (which is pretty lame! change shit up! be original and do something different!) don't expect me to do what Matt & crew have done. Instead, expect me to think out of the box and find a DIFFERENT solution. This kind of nonsense is what I hated about MOORPGs like WOW, on the very short occasions I played them: Same quest every time. (You can even look them up online to find the "right" way to beat them!) Once you've done it once, it's done. The whole beauty of TTRPGs is the absolute freedom you have as a DM or PC to try new tactics and react in different ways.

@Darkwintre 19 күн бұрын

What did I miss?

@zenonx1 19 күн бұрын

Stories like this is why I avoid critical roll

@Iansco1 19 күн бұрын

Everyone tries to be Matt and FAILS. Because matt does nothing they do. He does not push or guide them. In fact Matt has a rule if cool. Is it possible? Im, maybe. Would it be cool? Yes. Give me a roll

@WoodyWu-Blue 18 күн бұрын

Wow, I mean yeah, you could try some tactics from your favorite DM's, that will mean your inspired, but that DM really just go with copy every single thing that happened in Critical Roll and forcing his player's to do what it had happened in CR? Honestly I didn't really know a lot about CR actually. If the player's didn't get a heads up about that than a lot of them are totally going to dislike it, I mean seriously, I thought D&D is where DM's should cooperate with their players and vice versa and to make everyone enjoy the game at best!

@patgauvingeek 18 күн бұрын

It's like using a bad NES emulator (because emulating Matt's brain can't be easy) to play a NES game that everybody knows too well or don't care about. 😅

@Darkwintre 19 күн бұрын

Favouritism was shown though it was detrimental as he could have run his game properly and not messed that up.

@Spark_Chaser 11 күн бұрын

Honestly, Mat Mercer would not approve of this behavior. He really hates people exemplifying him as "exactly how the game should be run." Also, it's one thing to crib ideas from other sources, but you have to let the players play it out how they're going to do it, not follow the exact story blindly.

@Darkwintre 19 күн бұрын

Poor Matt. Thats why he thinks he's to blame isn't it?

@sleepinggiant4062 17 күн бұрын

Talk about railroading! yikes.

@michaelmuirhead910 19 күн бұрын

Incorporating what you like from other stories, and play styles is fine. That was going way too far.

@genghisgalahad8465 19 күн бұрын

Oh no, I emulate Stephen King's writing. People will think I'm him! I'm a bAd pErSoN. My writing must suck..and never be in my own voice! Apparently, the reddit poster doesn't know the difference between imitating and emulating. Sarcasm aside, it's 2024, and to rely on an unreliable reddit post whose word we're supposed to take as reliable, authentic, and in good faith, in this same old tired discussion. Retcon*, not recon. I don't buy this story. How is one a great DM before deciding to recreate critical "roll?" Do people in real life actually experience this? I mean, I better not watch Thor actor content anymore with significant other because in comparison, I would look so much lesser. Who actively thinks this way? Nice story, bro. And move on. It's a tired discussion. To emulate this episode, if you do this topic as a youtube content creator, you're beating a dead horse and not adding anything new that's not already been argued ad nauseum. You're regeessing back to 2016 twitter, around. I mean, who even wrote this super-reliable reddit post? A 12 year old? If so that kinda makes sense sone kid would maybe do that. But even that is a stretch.

@Numberi 17 күн бұрын

@bloodyirishman9155 19 күн бұрын

This sounds like a Single White Female version of a DM.

@jacquelinejones7787 19 күн бұрын

It took me up until your viscious mockery to realize what "emulate" really meant in this context. That's literally banana-brained behavior. You have indeed earned the loss of your players. Players, as your self-appointed GM parent.. if everyone at the table is having fun, you're doing it right. And yes, Mercer has been a professional voice actor longer than he has been a professional DM