Abraham the Owlbear Stan · @Robogoblin01
9th Aug 2020 from TwitLonger
Critical Role and a toxic fandom.
I might lose a lot of followers after this but, screw it. I am sad and angry. I don't think anybody will read this but if you do, buckle up, it's gonna be a long one.
Today I watched a dnd stream that I've never watched so I went in chat and...
Me: "Hi everyone, first time here!"
Mod: "Welcome, glad to have you."
Chat: "If you love Critical Role, you're gonna love this!"
Me: YAY! I don't watch CR sorry :( but I enjoy all Dnd!
Cast member 1: Leave.
(I let it slide and 20 mins of stream later)
Cast member 2: You pulled a Jester move, dude!
DM: Imagine not watching CR! What a fucking loser. (Cast laughs)
Cast member 1: You don't know dnd if you don't watch CR. (All the cast nods and agrees)
I left immediately.
This is why I left the CR role fandom a long time ago. Let's get some background on this shall we?
I started with my dnd adventure 2 years ago and my first experience with dnd was watching videos on YouTube, first on How To Play and then I watched a couple of episodes of the C Team, and then I got into Critical Role and my first live episode was when one of the main characters died. I thought it was fantastic and watched 4 live episodes after that!
I had a lot of questions but chat was ridiculously fast because over 20K people. So I went to a forum and posted questions on how to play it for an upcoming session (my first ever dnd irl with friends), I asked tips on classes and how to act(roleplay) because I didn't know how to and felt a lot of pressure because I had the idea that dnd was acting.
People on the forum told me to watch all the episodes but there were like 150 episodes of 4+ hours each, I simply couldn't do it so I said that and people told me that to simply give up and that I was gonna have a bad time playing. I was devastated.
So my first session came and I we had so much fun but was still upset with my friends because it wasn't like Critical Role, no funny voices and no "acting". We scheduled a session for weeks later but of course, adulting so we played months later.
My friend recommended me a new stream: MCDM's The Chain. I watch the first episode and hated it because I thought "where's the RP" "they're not even playing right".
I became one of the gatekeepers.
After I watched MCDM my YouTube recommendations were of Matt Colville so I give it a chance and watched one and Matt said: "Just because people have a certain way on how to play, it doesn't mean that it is the only one. The important is that you all have fun in your group" that right there broke me and saved me.
I watched a second episode of the Chain with new eyes, and said, "this isn't so bad". Now the chain is one of my favorite shows.
I then started Heroes of the Vale and said, "no minis? No maps? 2 hours!?" So it hit me..."maybe dnd is different for every group and that's ok." Then along came D4 "2 DMs?", and then Rivals of Waterdeep "No battle?".
I left the Critical Role fandom because I remembered every time I tried to see it, how shitty those people were and how horrible they made me feel.
Look, I know that there is a lot of people in the CR fandom that are great people, hell, a few of my Heroes have expressed how much they love CR and from what I can tell, the cast and crew of CR are amazing people and maybe in the future I will give it a chance again, however, I still can't forget those awful humans.
I love dnd and how different every group plays. I love the community and how we all help each other. So please, PLEASE, don't be a shitty person, especially to new players, we are all different and we all play differently. We are all here to have fun.
I love you all, you are important and you matter. Play dnd however you want and have fun!