Why the Matt Mercer Effect is a Good Thing for DMs and Players

Hot take: Communication between players and dungeon masters is good, actually.

00:00 - What is the Matt Mercer Effect?
02:55 - How Critical Role IS Unusual
04:55 - How a Session Zero Cuts Off the Matt Mercer Effect
05:19 - Not Every Table is Right for Every Player
07:35 - Let's Take Matt Mercer Off the Pedestal
10:05 - Skill vs. Style
13:05 - Does Equipment Make You a Good DM?
15:53 - A Shared Language

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[HutchTheWolf]

To be fair, as a player, if you expect Mercer from your DM; don’t be surprised if your DM asks you to live up to the rest of the cast of CR.

[colefesler]

Forever DM here, I definitely have felt the effects of the Matt Mercer effect. The funny thing is, it’s me that was effected, not my players. As a DM, it’s hard to find five people who all want to be as invested in dnd as the CR team, and I had to step back and realize why my expectations were so high coming back the summer after I discovered CR. Once I knew how to have that conversation I was all set.

[romxxii]

To be fair: the Matt Mercer effect was happening even when Matt was just drawing maps on graphing paper and marking off combatant positions with cheap minis. While the current set has elevated the show's presentation, the improvisational and acting talents of the cast and the DM, as well as their passion for storytelling, has always been there, even in the days of dinky microphones and iPhone-quality video feeds. It was like watching NBA all stars in a game of pick-up, and still hustling like it's game 7 of the finals.

[dudeist_priest]

I've DM'd two groups. One we play at my house with a chessex map and minis for things I have minis for and tokens for everything else. It's everyone's first time. The other I take some of my stuff to another DM's house and use his fancy table, with the inset TV and mix of terrain, virtual environments, surround sound, way more minis and experienced players... I love both my groups and neither needs what the other has.

[AAAndrew]

To me, it's like watching professional athletes and expecting your company softball league to be the same kind of experience. These are professional actors who are highly trained to tell stories, to react to other actors to keep stories going for hundreds of hours. Few tables will be like CR's table, and that is not the right kind of table for all games, or what everyone wants.

It's also very different to be running a game in a world invented by someone else, and running a game in a world you've invented and spent hundreds of hours to create. Matt is also highly interested in political intrigue. Not everyone likes this. Not everyone will react to a story built around politics like the CR players.

And your comments on style is totally on-point. And as for equipment, I think if I had the new set, it would actually make my game worse, as it would be so distracting to me to try and keep track of.

I think the biggest impact CR has had is that it has engaged tons more people and showed them what playing DnD looks like, even if it's at a very high level. It's like watching a sport will get more people engaged in trying that sport much more than someone explaining it or trying to read how to play it in a book. The wide exposure of DnD thanks to CR has done more to lower the bar for new players.

Thanks for your analysis.

[ddManut]

As a podcast version listener, I like critical role entirely independent from the sets. He creates scenes through words that are immersive and easy to create a picture of in my mind.

[Chestbridge]

For me, personally, the Matt Mercer Effect has been a blessing. If players tell me upfront they like Critical Role, chances are good that they'll be a good fit for my game. For those who have always preferred a more role-play and character focused game it's just awesome to get so many new people into the hobby who want a game like that! =)

[Drewcatmorris]

I have been playing RPGs since 1979 and as a DM have largely done theater of the mind for most combats. I have not really had the Matt Mercer Effect hit me, but have seen a resurgence of interest in RPGs that has made it much easier to find a table you might like to play/DM/GM/Storytell with.

The one thing that I wish I had that Matt has in spades is patience. He has waited for years for storyline payoffs. That is a lesson that I really want to apply.

[oscarwilson]

I went through a Matt Mercer effect as the forever DM - putting all that unnecessary pressure on myself and being inevitably disappointed. Now, I’ve realised what I CAN take from Matt: his absolute, stone-cold poker face in tandem with his humbleness. DMs are people and people like boasting and when you are literally god (especially in a homebrew setting), every story pay off, every awesome session that you completely improvised you will want validation and you’ll want to spill all the awesome secrets you have. But Matt… just doesn’t do that… and my god does it pay off.

[Caitydid]

I think the only time I've complained about a DM not being "like Matt Mercer"--and I never actually made that complaint to anyone--was because the DM I was playing with wasn't actually a good DM, in terms of making sure his players are actually having fun and okay with what's going on. You can actually see Matt checking in with the rest of the CR cast constantly, verbally and nonverbally. The DM I had was not like that. He didn't care that I was getting frustrated and upset because I felt unheard by everyone at the table. I stuck with it to the end of the campaign, but I wasn't satisfied with what I got, because of the issue I just mentioned. Luckily, the DM I play with now is much more consistent about making sure his players are actually enjoying the game, and by extension so is the rest of my party.

[sarahraynore]

I'm of the firm opinion that the Critical Role effect is more due to the players than it is to Matt Mercer. It's how they get so invested in their own characters, how they go out of their way to say or do something without any prompt from the DM because "it's what the character would do", it's those sessions when Matt barely has to do anything because the players have the characters roleplay and simply talk expressing themselves and reflecting on recent events. Matt Mercer's dming simply enables that.

This is not to say that Matt Mercer is without merit, far from that. But I usually get the feeling that people think that CR's success is maybe like 70-90% Matt's part and 10-30% the players', and I actually think it is the complete opposite! As you and other people have said in the comments, many one-shots that Matt has dmed have been completely unremarkable. Conversely, I found Aabria's Exandria Unlimited very much a CritRole experience even though her dming style is completely different; because the players were playing it the "CR style", taking their time to let the characters talk and act as they felt like and do their thing

[petek]

Mercer's effect on me, was that I realized that as a DM, and a s a player, I could have put more effort into backstory and details. Not to the extent he does, but more than I did. I wonder how much of a difference it would have made. You probably don't notice it as much at a smaller table, and with players that are less concerned with the "role playing " aspect. But if you have players who really like to get into role, it's like an additional reward for them.

[MorningDusk]

I realized that I never wanted to end up with a wall full of minis I had to sort through to find out I only have 3 skeletons when I want 6. So, I took all of 20 minutes to make a 3D print of a 1" square token I can slide a picture into and printed like 8 of those in various colors. Now, all I need is to print out images, cut them up, assemble, and tell my party "The red zombie is going to attack you, Jane". Much cheaper than printing minis, and I can make a catalogue of cut-out squares much easier than a fleet of minis.

[pawsandpaperrpg]

14:00
What people tend to forget is that CR had it's fair share of "crappy equipment" at the start of their "streaming journey".
I'm talking not only about their "microphone dropouts" during their G&S days, but more so about their "play tools" during aforementioned days.
Maps hand drawn on paper with grey 3D printed figurines that bearly (pun intended for Trinkett) resembled their characters....
All of these things, these 3D models from Dwarvenforge, all those detailed stuff, is just to "boost" the imagination and has nothing to do with Matt Mercer or his style.
Of course, our campaigns on stream would look TOTALLY different (and to be honest, we had a huge technical malfunction during our stream yesterday, caused by switching from Roll20 to foundry, and real....crappy preparation on my side).
But there is also one thing people tend to forget, and that is how Critical Role started.
During the early days, they had a very strict policy, and that is: the money they earned through donations would entirely be forwarded to their charity partners. Only the money they would get through subscription to the channel would - partly - be used for new models and set pieces and stuff. "Critical Role" was just one of many shows on Geek & Sundry (albeit one of the more successful ones). They didn't have the creative liberty to do stuff.
They had to use an already built set to run their first games that was technologically not fitted for so much people on set. It was not until Ep. 37 that they had a "custom" set build to optically fit the "style" of the show, and not the "living room charme" they "had to deal with" until then. And it was not until the very end of campaign one (around ... I don't know, Ep. 102 or so), that they even had a custom built table....
So does equipment define "Critical Role"? Or was it awesome because the people really trusted each other?

[Dhorannis]

One thing is greatly overlooked when it comes to the Matt Mercer Effect: The other players. The best moments of CR are not Matts villain monologues or one of his thousand toothy maws. The best moments are interactions between the characters. Scanlan accusing his party of not being interested in him as a person. The aftermath of Mollymauk's death. The reveal that Laudna was one of the victims for the Briarwoods' welcome display.
Matt is completely secondary in these moments. Of course, there are also great solo moments when Matt is playing a bigger role. One example is Fjord destroying his falchion and cutting his ties to Uk'otoa. But Matt is not the only one making the show great.

I'm not playing with any professional voice actors or entertainers. I do a bit of voice acting, but mainly by recording audios as a hobby. I try to learn from Matt and the rest of the cast of CR, but I will not immitate his style. I just try to motivate my players to try acting out their characters, even if it feels a bit strange at first. And when I'm a player, I often ask the others if I am overdoing it because I really enjoy excessive roleplaying and method acting. But I also don't want to just hog the spotlight all the time.
Long story short: I communicate what I like to do and see with the others at my table. I try to create an environment where everyone feels safe and can try intense roleplaying. Honestly? Many people are great once they overcome the initial hesitation of roleplaying emotions. And I absolutely love to see these moments.

[knoxgordon]

I run my games with legos, no voice acting, and players with little to no experience, and I still have so much fun every session.

[DocEJ]

As someone who loves CR and has played in a few campaigns after being introduced to D&D by CR:
I do not want to play in the style of CR. I certainly tried when I started but as a player. But I do not have the concentration to roleplay that deep an entire session, I do not want DMs to explain the environment as detailed as Mercer does, except if it is specifically necessary for an encounter, I love to bent the rules more than Mercer allows (and encourage players to do so now that I've started DMing myself)
I have realised my style of D&D is different than CR's, and that's OK :D

[CynDuby]

I love your channel! I came back to DnD after being exposed to it in the late 70s. There was no one close enough to me that played so I didn't get hooked. Now, decades later and two grown children at home because of the pandemic, this family of geeks decided to learn DnD and to play. It's been a journey! We are hooked on critical role and love Matt and everyone (we're halfway through the second campaign). I learn constantly from watching him and the players in many ways: how to run a game (ie, make them roll for it), how to drop hints (even as a writer, I'm notoriously bad at this), how to move the story along, how to be patient when they get into an RP situation and are running with it and how to pace the game. I learn from the players, too, just as much if not more: how to take bad rolls with a smile, how to attend to other folks' story lines, how to be a team in battle, how to draw out players who may be shy about RP, and how to celebrate other's victories and comfort their defeats. We play with each other, taking turns DMing, and I am now running Call of the Netherdeep for my two best friends, a newer online very experienced friend, and my daughter. I also play in two games. I would not have this outlet or at least this much fun playing and DMing if not for Critical Role. To me, that's the REAL Matt Mercer effect :-)

[darrylhilbig]

When they talk about equipment, people should look at the first episodes in campaign one.

I can remember Butcher's paper and hand drawn terrain being involved during the battles and encounters.

[Lathlaer]

Something I feel is not mentioned enough is that a key difference between the CR cast and many other home D&D games is that apart from the deep focus on player interaction, their style is very much "story-centric". You will see this in how they role play, in the decisions they make and how they take it - a good story takes precedence.

Not everyone plays like that. Many play very much a "player-centric" game where - if you are a player - your own decisions, journey and growth takes precedence in your mind.

It is mostly visible when Matt is able to pull off things that are sometimes referred to as "red-flags". Something like denying the warlock his powers because of his defiance towards the patron. Many players after a session like that would go screaming in reddit threads about how the unfair and bad DM treated them. And they would find sympathy with neverending line of people agreeing that it's a red flag and that they would never have done such a thing at their table.

Matt can do that. First, because his players trust him. And second, because they collectively like choices that lead to an interesting story. A player is not interested in getting more powerful and doesn't mind if a choice cripples him if the choice leads to an epic moment in the story. Travis has this mentality and so does Sam when he embraces failures and flat out says that he likes to fail.

Liam tries it too but I think sometimes the tactical powergamer surfaces for a moment or two if he's not careful :D