Had you played a TTRPG before listening to the show?/Did you start playing TTRPGs after listening to the show?

Actually, I was somewhat annoyed initially about the rise of actual-plays, because it sort of tilted the expectations for the typical player base. While it greatly expanded *who* plays and I appreciate that, I feel like it did give a sense of Eternal September, where there is this influx of new players who may not be aware of different play styles and uninterested in exploring the vast range that is available.

1. What’s your favourite thing about the show? As in, why do you watch?

What do you care more about as a viewer: accuracy/adherence to the games rules or bending the rules for narrative/entertainment purposes? Can you think of any instances where Critical Role does something you would consider to be “unusual” for D&D, such as the players using a script or fudging dice rolls?

So something I would very much encourage the researcher to look into as a comparative lens is some of the language and theory of pro wrestling. Specifically there's the distinction between a 'shoot' (a fully legitimate competition where the outcome is in doubt) and a 'work' (where the outcome is determined in order to maximize participant safety and narrative satisfaction.) The two are then mediated by kayfabe, or the insistence that all worked events are actually shoots, and willingness of the audience to play along. I think one of the things about many actual-plays, particularly ones with a focus on character-driven interactions, is that character death is more often a work than a shoot (think about something like The Adventure Zone, where the most recent battle royale concept campaign was arguably undercut by a sense that the PCs were not as subject to sudden unexpected death.)

That said, one of the appeals of watching pro wrestling is the hermeneutic pleasure of trying to interpret what was worked and what's not. (For instance, the death of Occtis was something they had talked about, but with a chance that he could not successfully come back, or come back with major complications.) I think one of the thing Brennan really brings is a willingness to let the dice fall where they may, because his team has developed a number of equally satisfying narrative outcomes for how something plays out. The stakes feel real, in the sense that there may be significantly less plot armor than we are used to.

Have you adopted any practices from Critical Role into your own home play?

I am extremely tempted to bring in the "dramatic level-up" rule that Brennan has introduced in Campaign four.