Both of these men offer to run a game of Dungeons & Dragons at your FLGS.
Who do you choose and why?
>>44962107
Neither.
I've seen both of them on utube. Not interested.
>>44962107
Literally who, the thread.
Guy on the right through looks like a tryhard cunt. "Ayy Lmao look at my shopped badass photo".
>>44962107
Though it was Vin Diesel on the left from thumbnail in catalog. What a bummer.
>>44962107
Gonna go with Chris Perkins. His live games aren't indicative of his actual GMing style. I read his column regularly back when he had one on the WotC website and it made it clear he was a dream DM.
>>44962107
>Dungeons & Dragons
>>44962255
The Dungeon Master Experience ones?
I loved those. Shame the archived version of the website is so sporadic with its pages. It often takes some fiddling on archive.org to find them again.
>>44962107
Why should I care? Who are these people? Actually, I take that back. I don't wanna know what random strangers /tg/ has decided are the devil this week. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you people? You gossip worse than old ladies in church.
>>44962107
The one on the right, because he looks like a true wizard rather than a hard-drinking armchair historian.
>>44962107
Neither.
I just go play good games.
>>44962107
Bonus round, if you chose neither you have to play with pic related
>>44963837
You can fuck right off
>>44962397
Calm down.
They are two prominent DMs on youtube, the guy on the left is Chris Perkins, a designer and editor for WotC who runs the Penny Arcade Expo gamese, right is Mathew Mercer, who DMs for Geek and Sundry. I don't think OP is trying to demonize either, they both have their different styles and I would gladly play a game either one was running; if forced to pick I'd go with Perkins, he seems a bit more laid back.
>>44963837
Y'know, Wheaton actually might be a fun GM. I'd be up for it.
>>44963837
He's the better choice anyway.
>>44962107
Perkins. I remember the game he GM'd for the guys at Robot Chicken. He's pretty over the top with the PA guys but he has enough range to know his audience. Dude's a killer GM.
>>44962107
Sorry OP this is 4chan, you're speaking to a bunch of 15 year olds who know shit.
I choose Perkins as he seems the nicer person.
Can they co-DM together? 'Cause I think Perkins without a group who only care about dick jokes and Mercer with someone as creative as Perkins to bounce ideas off of would put together some great stuff.
>>44963910
Wheaton the guy who tries his hardest at every available opertuinty to play the geek because that's the only thing he's known for. Yeah, I bet he'll make a fucking amazing GM....
>>44963837
Even if Wheaton was a great DM, I'd probably decline out of principle. I just don't like him as a person. He seems like a scumbag.
>>44964097
Are you sure he's not just playing it up for the camera?
Matt Mercer because
>Can do bretty gud voices and is great at roleplaying in general.
>Very easy going, allowed one of his major villains to be ended by rays of sunlight in the shape of dicks without making a fuss. In fact, he loved it.
>Great at setting things up, he even got a fucking PF gunslinger to work in D&D.
>Is just a nice guy over all.
The choice is obvious.
>>44963910
>>44963918
wil wheaton DMing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5cbtUzKNyo
>>44964024
I want to see Matt actually run something that has a coherent narrative, and isn't just a series of improv scenes and small vignettes of story that don't connect to eachother at all other than sharing the same cast of NPCs.
And I want to see Chris DM something that isn't 4 fucktards who have been playing for almost a decade and still have no idea how to read a character sheet.
Tough one... Gonna go with Mercer just for that godly voice acting/immersion he can create. I think Perkins might be better at the actual mechanics part of DM'ing and whatnot however.
>>44964159
He notorious for it on and off camera. Lots of comments have been made by people who've worked alongside him.
For example the whole Acquisitions Incorporated thing.
>>44964110
I wouldnt say he comes across as a scumbag, but hes sure smug as fuck and thinks hes some sort of king of the nerds
Mercer
>>44962107
Perkins is my bro.
Fite me fgts.
But also this, >>44964208
>>44964276
Wil is literal shit. He's not even a person, he's the embodiment of garbage.
No one likes him, but somehow he worms his way in and around so much "nerd culture" that everyone is forced to tolerate his presence.
>>44964360
I blame The Big Bang Theory.
>>44964208
Matt's narrative isn't the worst. It's the go to way of running a game for the average DM. Everyone seems to be having fun. Also, if their last session is anything to go on, it looks like he's giving his party something big and challenging to deal with for once so that's a plus. For Perkins though, god do I feel for the guy. He's definitely resigned himself to what he has now since it works out ok, but you can tell he'd be thrilled to work with some intrigue and create some quests where he doesn't have to hand hold throughout it.
>>44964384
>It's the go to way of running a game for the average DM.
I really can't believe this, because it's just so fucking bad. If that's the average D&D game, then holy fuck am I glad I'm not the "average DM".
>>44962107
I'd play with Chris, if only because I want to have somebody to talk game design with.
Both seem likefunGMs though.
Perkins because I think I could probably raise the issues I have with him about 5th Ed and he'd actually listen.
>>44964384
>Matt's narrative isn't the worst. It's the go to way of running a game for the average DM. Everyone seems to be having fun.
No, I get that it's A way of doing things, it's just so...I dunno, lazy and boring? Like, half the little self-contained stories the groups go on are just these dumb little "We're gonna spend a session on your backstory and then move on" things, and never once has there been an actual driving force over the whole campaign.
I'm not saying the players shouldn't be having fun, I get why it works. I'm just saying it's the laziest way of doing things, and results in a re-telling of the campaign that is pretty fucking stupid.
>For Perkins though, god do I feel for the guy. He's definitely resigned himself to what he has now since it works out ok, but you can tell he'd be thrilled to work with some intrigue and create some quests where he doesn't have to hand hold throughout it.
Not only that, but watch his last two PAX games and you can tell he's just given up. He's not in control of anything, it's just WotC paying for everything and saying "Yeah, we're gonna need you to shoehorn our properties into this marketing opportunity. So we need Drizz't to show up in this game, since we're pushing that now." and that kinda shit.
The big props they get commissioned make the game LOOK like work went into it, but without them he's just pushing a bunch of scraps of paper around a table and pretending it's fun when it's clearly not what he wants to be doing.
>>44964432
Well, I didn't say it was good lol, but it isn't awful. It's an easy way for most guys to run a game and it's easy for players to follow along. I wouldn't enjoy running games like that and I don't, but I still enjoy watching him play with his group.
>>44964563
I think you're mistaking opinions for facts, Not all DM's or campaigns need >Muh epik BBEG/world catastrophe. He is a great player narrative DM who lets his campaign be more about the players just do what they want, which is have fun
Critical Role is probably the best video representation of table top rpg playing because they have actual actors so its more like watching live improv
>>44964563
That was such a cringe to watch.
"Oh cool is that Drizzt Do'Urden?"
"That's soo amazing do we get to battle against him in the setting of Faerûn?"
"We all can now with this new setting book available at all good bookstores and online on our website."
>>44964695
>probably the best video representation of table top rpg playing
The fact that they have actual actors is why it's not remotely a good representation of RPGs. No group on the planet functions like Critical Role, and yet people who watch it will assume they do.
>>44964563
>No, I get that it's A way of doing things, it's just so...I dunno, lazy and boring?
That's fair, yeah. I think the word "safe" fits too. Lazy, but safe. It's not complex, there's tracks to follow, finishing one quest nets one result then you move on to the next one that will pop up shortly. He's putting on a show for a whole audience, so maybe that has something to do with it, but I'm hoping the wholedragon revealis a step in the right direction. I've felt like they've been pretty disconnected from anything major since they got the horn then just had it locked away forever.
>>44962397
jesus christ, calm your tits, you're making a fool of yourself.
>>44964777
>I've felt like they've been pretty disconnected from anything major since they got the horn then just had it locked away forever.
The reason it felt like that is because the streamed part of the campaign started basically right at them heading underground to eventually get the Horn. But when you look at it, you realize that was just another unconnected, forgotten vignette, that wasn't designed to come up again.
Level 15 seems like a really bad time to finally be introducing some kind of motivation other than "You know this plot hook from your backstory".
Being unfamiliar with both, I ask three questions of both:
> Which version of D&D ?
> Why that version ?
> Could you tell me a bit more about the campaign you're planning to run ?
Their answers will let me make my decision.
>>44964849
Level 15 is typically the point where you start to introduce new elements like city building or interdimensional travel. As often around that point the campaign would have wrapped itself up.
>>44965032
Yeah, that's my point. We picked up watching these guys at level 10, and it's pretty clear that they will continue to be just as amazed at what they see on their character sheet as they would be at level 1.
Which is why it's weird when you have a player at such a high power level have absolutely no concept of just how powerful they are with respect to the world.
>>44964963
I've always gotten the feeling that Perkins would rather be playing 2nd Ed D&D than 4th or 5th. Not sure why.
>>44962107
Neither. Because fuck DND
>>44965086
Most of the group seems to have a handle on their own abilities though. Travis and Laura are the main offenders.
>>44965117
It's either D&D or D 'n D not DND. There's no second word begining with a "N" there.
>>44965192
...beginning.
>>44964563
>but without them he's just pushing a bunch of scraps of paper around a table and pretending it's fun when it's clearly not what he wants to be doing.
What? He was clearly stoked about that session. At the beginning of it he even made a point that imagination is more important than props.
>>44965257
Dude, that whole game was completely phoned in.
>>44962107
Guy on the left would lead you on a fleshed out nice slow campaign.
Guy on the right would be metal as fuck.
Gotta pick Metal over quality.
>>44962107
It's bad enough that I spend time here on /tg/ discussing my hobbies that could be spent practicing them, but fuck if I'm gonna sit down and watch other people play pnp.
This is like the whole letsplay/streamer cancer, fuck that. Practice your hobbies with your friends instead of fostering cults of personality around dorks with youtube channels.
>>44965257
That's more likely a jab at the needlessly elaborate set piece they had to play on.
Remember it's his job to promote D&D so he's going appear excited. You have to read between the lines and obvious false smiles.
>>44965277
I mean, that's your read on it but to me it seemed Chris was more into that game than the last several he'd done. I don't know how you could get the impression he wasn't loving that game.
>>44965386
You're the kinda person who thinks the barmaid is actually attracted to him, huh?
>>44962255
Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and say that him showing his GMing is a better example than him telling us of his GMing.
I'll go with the other guy, at least that way we'll actually get to do shit.
>>44965386
I've been a DM for a very long time. I know what it looks like when someone despises what they're running because they wish they could be doing something actually interesting or unique or engaging.
>>44965452
Dude, the guys a game designer and you're belittling him for talking about gaming?
>>44964276
No, fuck you.
He's scum.
>Guys, you should subsidize a new construction project solely so I don't have to be accosted by E! reporters.
>Never mind the fact that E! has literally never done a fucking story on me.
>Guys, this one person who committed suicide means privacy needs to be banned.
>What? The person didn't agree with me? Doesn't matter, they didn't know any better anyway.
Fuck him.
>>44964170
Very heavy handed, he's describing the action and making choices for the players. That's obnoxious. But he has a nice voice.
>>44965493
No, I'm saying that we actual video evidence of his GMing skills are more valuable vis a vis judging the same, than his uncorroborated sotires.
I am also implying that he isn't a very good GM.
>>44965481
I've been a DM for a very long time and think maybe neither of us knows Chris Perkins well enough to make huge assumptions like that.
Didn't Perkins used to have this whole "DM for the stars" thing before, where he would run one-shot-ish games with relatively famous people?
Now the only time I ever hear about him because Acquisitions Inc. just had another session.
>>44965575
https://youtu.be/gp0PgnXXf_A
https://youtu.be/xzIJemFtXXs
https://youtu.be/2knLHWucK1A
https://youtu.be/S8Ra1ecLhtI
https://youtu.be/zFTmmZaD9GI
https://youtu.be/UdAapVZFS1g
https://youtu.be/y6jGQEe3tC4
https://youtu.be/LA3VbDqj7C4 https://youtu.be/-jAe42mv0h8
https://youtu.be/-FeiNEsLElA
There you go, watch away.
>>44962107
>No idea who they are
>Dungeons & Dragons
I choose to not play.
>>44965953
Well thanks for the input.
>>44965365
>dorks with youtube channels.
Good thing the Critical Role group all have actual jobs, then. They're all VAs.
>>44962234
I know, right? I'd suck his gay dick until climax to get him to DM a game for me.
>>44962107
Aw, perkins, hands down. I mean, I'm going from the acquisitions incorporated games, which aren't representative of his true style, but he has that fake oppositional DM attitude that only he can pull off without looking like a tosser and it makes me think he'd have a much more 1e-2e playstyle
>>44965365
I can be called upon to work at any time between 8am and midnight, 7 days a week. I get my schedule a week in advance, but it makes scheduling weekly anythings a literal hell. My other friends have even worse schedules thanks to school, retardation or being a McD wage slave/manager.
>>44965365
Well then it's good that Chris Perkins works for WotC as a producer and story writer then and not just "some dork with a youtube channel."
>>44962107
One on the left looks 'oh shit, human contact! Gotta act natural'. Guy on the right looks tryhardy as fuck. Also >playing dnd
>>44966104
Ummm... Good to know...
>>44963837
Don't make me choose between perkins and Wil! His DMing style isn't terrible, his game is just shit. His biggest failing is what a shitty player he is, and he wouldn't be playing.
I don't dislike Matt, either, but I feel like he has all the symptoms of someone who only plays 5e. The whole Critical Role campaign seems neutered in a way that only good players can fix. Perkins and Wil could both DM to cardboard and, with Perkins at least, the cardboard would become invested enough to become interesting.
>>44966191
>>44966104
>>44966179
>This is like the whole letsplay/streamer cancer, fuck that. Practice your hobbies with your friends instead of fostering cults of personality around dorks with youtube channels.
I wasn't very clear, sorry. I meant to say that this was my reason for not being able to practice my hobby with my friends. I get my tabletop fix from PnP videos on Youtube.
>>44962107
given i have no idea who either of those gimboids are, i'd ask which edition they are running, and what splatbooks they approve of, that is as good a measure of them as any other i can come up with without relying on the opinions of others
>>44966316
>gimboids
Somehow I think you'd say the same if there was a picture of a 30 year old Gygax or Tolkien up there.
>>44966316
>without relying on the opinions of others
Someone likes to ignore their players when they devise a game don't they? Wondered why no one ever really enjoys their time at your table?
>>44966316
Sorry. They only run games for Americans, anyway.
>>44966454
Wrong again.
https://youtu.be/-FeiNEsLElA
>>44965192
Hah, nah, fuck you, it's literally pronounced DND. I'm not even that guy, but that's how I've always done it and how my lgs does flyers and event signage. And what's the point of an forcing an acronym in the age of swype if it requires switching to alternate symbols and caps changes. Not everyone is going through the extra effort just so we can fool people into thinking we're at a keyboard because you have arbitrary autism.
>>44966392
no, but 1) i'd recognise them
2) that choice is easy, Gygax, Tolkien goes too deep into worldbuilding
>>44963837
You got it all wrong buddy. I'm not stuck with Wheaton. He's stuck with me.
>>44966216
the Critical Role campaign started off in Pathfinder because Matt's a huge PF/3.5 fan but they swapped over to 5e because he had 8 non-expert players and 5e is way simplier and easier to track.
>>44967240
Then he has no excuse.
>>44964432
Can I get a stream of you DMing please, for comparison purposes? I've been DMing since 2e, and have introduced dozens upon dozens of players of all different backgrounds and "geekiness" levels, and I think Matt does an amazing job with the players he has.
So please, everyone calling him a shit DM, could we get vids of your DM style for comparison?
>>44962107
I don't know who either of these are, but I'd choose the one on the right because 5e is less bad than 4e was.
>>44966912
Rorschach anon has his priorities straight.
>>44967492
inb4 "don't need to be a cook to know shit food"
>>44966614
D'nD not D.N.D
>>44967516
I also do not know who they are, and I also would choose the guy on the right, but mostly because that particular combination of cueball and eyebrows creeps me out and I couldn't stand staring at it for several hours.
>>44965192
Sorry kid, but language moves on. "DND" usage is widespread enough now that you're basically trying to pull a King Knut on it by complaining.
And in the end, signifier-signified is all you need. Anything beyond that is just being prissy.
Cry harder.
>>44968653
Where? Nobody uses it like that.
>>44962107
I don't know who either of these people are, and I dislike Dungeons and Dragons.
I'll pass, thanks.
>>44968695
What do you think will happen if you google search it?
>>44965095
He wrote some adventures for it in Dungeon/Dragon/whatever.
Decent adventures too.
The bald guy.
Because a bald guy gotta help out a bald guy. always.
>>44966912
SJW shit aside, he doesn't seem like a bad guy.
>>44965732
>https://youtu.be/-FeiNEsLElA
>Graham Linehan
Cool. Dunno how I haven't seen this before.
>>44968988
My hair is slowly approaching Dungeon Master levels.
In some ways I wish it would happen sooner.
>>44962107
They both look like they know how to suck a cock.
>>44969242
I lost mine when i was 25.
just shave it off.
>>44969684
Nah, that Dungeon Master cosplay will make it all worthwhile. For the convention I visit about once every 2-3 years, where nobody will understand who Dungeon Master is.
>>44966476
This is a lot comfier than the American ones. They're not constantly interrupting the DM and making jokes.
I guess that's the pressure when you have a live audience, but I'd prefer more like this.
>>44964166
Can I have some context on this? How there even was rays of sunlight in the shape of dicks? And why use them?
>>44962333
wizards cannot into archives
>>44973374
There was a major Vampire antagonist, so they killed him with sunlight. I forgot who made them in the shape of dicks, but I think it was the gnome bard.
>>44973778
I understand killing him with sunlight. But HOW make the sunlight in shape of dicks, or WHY make the sunlight in shape of dicks makes me confused.
>>44973778
It was the half elf Druid and the gnome cleric who made them dick shaped. That isn't to say the gnome bard wouldn't have done something similar since he seems to shit on beds, give himself magic third nipples, use magic to enhance his penis and other shit like that.
>>44973841
>HOW
I forget. I'll have to rewatch the episode.
>WHY
Why not?
>>44974048
Oh shit that's right. Thanks anon, my mind just defaulted to the bard when thinking about cocks.
>>44974065
Well, the "Why not" depend on the "how".
I don't know wich version of the game they were playing and with what house rules, but in D&D 3.5 at least you would need to use some extra effort in one way or another to make the sunlight ray take the shape of Dicks, as I remember.
Than the "why not" would be because it's possibly more costly or risky, and I would expect a reason for it (even if perharps the most obvious reason is simple of trying to humilate the villain).
However, if for one reason or another it wasn't more costly in any way of effort of risk, than I guess "why not?" applies.
Matthew Mercer, but only if I get to play with the rest of the CriticalRoll cast.
I haven't gotten to watch a "serious" Perkins game yet. Outside of Acq. Inc., I've only see him run Robot Chicken and some convention stuff.
And Wil only if he was an actual player with me instead of our DM.
>watching Critical Role for the first time
Is Orion Acaba autistic or just really devoted to his character? I literally cannot tell the difference.
>>44977535
He's devoted to his character, but yeah he gets pretty wacky at times.
>>44977535
Kinda both. Spoiler he gets booted.
>>44977579
Didn't really get booted. He left for his own reasons.
To run his own twitch channel.
>>44977579
>spoiler he gets booted
He does? From what I readinb4 >tvtropesit sounded like he leaves on his own volition.
>>44962107
Who wouldn't want to play in a game run by Karl Pilkington?
>>44977628
>>44977607
I don't believe that story for a second.Orion was a minmaxing munchkin too invested in his own pet character to let him be hurt - up to and including abandoning combat - and intentionally stealing the thunder of other players when they were obviously meant to do something. Plus his RP choices got really out of hand in his last few sessions, mostly because he doesn't have Taliesin's rapport with Marisha that allows them to basically fall all over each other at the drop of a hat, or Sam's reputation as the lewd but charming jokester.
Though I will say I hate Trinket the most. He's mostly useless, and either he gets left behind and Laura sobs about it or he gets taken and it's always a huge hassle.
>>44974293
The actual answer is that Mercer has been doing this thing with the group (which has actually been going for like 3 years, only streaming since last summer I think) where if you land the final blow on some important enemy (like the aforementioned vampire, one of a pair of BBEGs) you get to describe exactly how you want them to die. He always asks "How do you want to do this?" which is their trigger word, basically.
They blasted him with a druid-casted cleric-enhanced Sunlight spell, and the cleric said that the rays of sunlight should look like dicks. The cleric, of course, is played by the most innocent-looking woman in the group, Ashley Johnson.
>>44977923
Orion said he left the show because he has a lot of other things he wants to do, and he didn't want to become Pike 2.0 who always has scheduling conflicts.
That was pretty much the main reason he left.
>new episodes live thursday nights but I always watch it on monday/tuesday
>check twitter
>mary elizabeth mcglynn tweeted a bunch about it this week
Uh oh was there a guest appearance by best tiefling
>>44962107
To (sorta) call all the way back to the OP, I'd really love to wander into the AGP DM running a game. I think that'd be one hell of a good time.
>>44978212
If you're referring to last thursday's game, then no.
But holy shit was it intense.
>>44966216
>neutered
...How? Seems like any campaign I've been in, sans asshats and wasted time.
>>44965532
I don't know what either of those events involved.
>>44964208
The current story arc they just started in CR has been brewing for over 2 years.
>>44968927
Point proven then, it went from 30 million results down to 600,000. No one other than illiterate fucktards say DND. It's not an acronym.
>>44982617
I've always seen it written DnD.
>>44982871
Yes, uppercase D, lowercase n, uppercase D. It's not DND in ALL CAPS.
>>44964432
You think you are better than mercer, sure sure kid
>>44964743
My group does, albeit with worse voice acting
>>44978074
No he got drunk on live stream and acted awfully to the druid girl- everyone was uncomfortable
>>44982617
>DND
>About 33,400,000 results (0.42 seconds)
>>44962107
Well, since my current options are NONE, fuck it I'll go with whoever.
Maybe I can convince them to try out DH.
>>44962290
> I only play Maid RPG like a patrician
Matthew Mercer, so he can hoy at me.
