VIDEO
hello and welcome to GM tips the show
where my friends and I share with you
our thoughts and suggestions on how to
gamemaster your role-playing game
I’m your host – setting Phoenix
co-creator of Mays Arcana and a dungeon
master for D&D let’s look back at some
of my favorite moments okay
now how can we take this interesting
little character son that you make and
how can we make her fucked-up dispense
is sometimes about painting a picture of
what’s not there versus what is there do
the main thing about an epic adventure
is that there’s a lot more going on than
just what’s happening with the players
themselves right there’s a lot of motion
is laden you know moving parts and so
forth it’s like the Battle of Helm’s
Deep and so it’s it’s important to
remember as the encounter progresses or
as the adventure progresses to remind
the PCs that there are these other
outside elements inside the scope of the
adventure they’re playing and that they
come into play and that they interact
directly with the characters so that
when they have those moments in the game
where they might stumble so they might
be there to like pick them up
so you know they he approach he’s
playing a fighter
my father is playing temp Rose Granger’s
I remember and he was approaching for
the close for combat and of course I
breathed acid breath on him and then
used the Bull strength and it was very
very close fight and at the end you know
they they prevailed in at the end he was
like all right he’s like searching the
ocher trying to figure out what item
gave him these powers and I was like
well no you notice there’s a black
dragon tattoo on his bat as Chester
River he’s like are you telling me
there’s no item here this is just a
natural ability that yeah and I was like
yep he’s like that’s bogus I can’t
believe what a chin CD on urs like yes
so once that was sort of settled the kid
looks up and he’s looking at all the
papers so serious okay okay so he’s
looking at these sheets like he knows
exactly what’s happening then he looks
at me dead in the face and he’s like can
i play a pig and I was like yes sure why
not
and he goes can I be a ninja
it’s okay you want to be a pig ninja
this sounds great
we’re gonna use this paper but you’re
totally a pig ninja for Dungeon Master’s
out there it’s important that you you
write up maybe a handful of descriptions
ahead of time so you know kind of where
the direction you’re going and it’s
perfectly okay to ad-lib out through the
descriptions and go off-script and so
forth but just to have something kind of
to base yourself off of is really kind
of key so you you know have that
something to anchor you but but these
are the theater of the mind is perfectly
the best way to go in this case because
nothing evokes the feelings that you’re
gonna have as a player or as a dungeon
master like what’s in your head putting
everything out on to a battle mat
totally puts it into a confining space
that has limitations and an epic thirst
of limitations so if you were in battle
and you’re fighting in that immediate
moment then the minis make sense but if
you’re going to the destination or just
just in the description it’s better to
have everyone be present and listening
yeah pay attention pay attention it’s
very important Goblin Queen let us not
fight I am like you I may look like a
pig but I am half Goblin haha and that
makes you my family we should not fight
each other we should instead have a
party oh and he rolled a 20 and I was
like y’all are having a party there was
one called I want to say it’s called the
black cursor or something like that
hey it was part of kind of like a
Genghis Khan campaign where Genghis Khan
is coming from the west from the east
and he’s bloody and West oh wow and it’s
huge it’s big epic you end up in the in
the Khan’s presence and he’s like what
is best in life and you’re like a
lollipop so I just don’t I fundamentally
don’t believe in balanced encounters I
don’t know what the what is the fun of
that right and that gets down to that
thing about how the gobble you’re gonna
beat the goblins it’s not a balanced
encounter yeah right and then when you
get to the end
time you’re fighting the boss monster
I’m a big believer in like stacking the
deck hugely against the players and
making them feel overwhelmed because
everybody every player wants to be John
McClane and die hard right they want to
get their ass kicked but they want to
win all the way through that feeling of
victory being earned and that means that
the bad guys have to be overwhelming it
has to be like this feeling of despair
we could never do it
because when then then when they do do
it they feel like heroes at which point
as a DM you can produce this once they
have this they can discover that there
is a hidden message written on the
bottom oh that is so cool it tells
something you’d hold on to this yeah
it’s it’s really fun and it’s a great
mechanic because now that that’s in the
game your players are gonna want to use
their life first and foremost when you
finish it I recommend this to any game
session when you finish the game when
you wrap up and the players are putting
their dice away take notes of what just
happened because it might be weeks and
weeks before you play again and you want
to remember it’s much detailed that
final beat as you can so write down what
happened right down this climactic beats
that you want to open on next time and
then when the players return take a
moment to set the stage take a moment to
you know really recapture and narrate
exactly what you left on last be left
off as the crawling of flames that
distance the fire claim again to flicker
and brighten the outskirts of your
vision you see as the fume like thick
black clouds fire up with ash and
brimstone in the background is the
shadow figure of the fire giant sharkon
drags his blade across the rock the
arcing of it down slamming with sparks
into the stone before you glancing over
your shoulder you look back as the warm
wind hits the back of your neck you look
down to see the thousand-foot drop into
the large lava falls and open sea of
fire what do you do I don’t you see are
that way
you killed help
Oh
remember when I said I rolled a 20 I
lied I could roll on but instead I have
a surprise for you
Amy vorpal routine Ruttenberg and
Matthew Mercer you guys are all back and
you’re super back yeah yeah you’ve been
gone a long time I know I almost had the
beard for it too but I deserve it Mercer
bearded yeah I don’t know how do you
have a kitty Robert and how apparently I
can know that’s partially why I did it
was just to see if I could then I did
that’s cool
Hey today’s theme is community and we
met because of celebrity charity 20 no I
think it was named something else a long
time ago but it was before any of us
figured out how the heck to livestream
our games and but more than that that
was like a fun side thing the whole
point of celebrity charity 20 was to get
as many of our friends in one room to
play at the same time and raise money
for charity like those are the two
things the streaming was separate but
the community I want to talk about
community with you guys I don’t I know
our experience I don’t really know your
guys’s experience even though I know
that there’s got to be a back story with
game masters like us there’s always a
let’s start with talk about your
community experience well I guess I
actually so he started playing D&D in
college and then I started actually
streaming when I came out here with
saving throw show and that was a small
but intense community so it was it was
very you know these people that come
onto the channel you know their handles
but then you also because of Twitter and
the accessibility of Facebook and also
if you also realize what their first
names are and then you and we had I mean
I guess it was around fifty people and
that those aren’t that many names to
learn so they’d come on or donate or do
something and we’d be like what’s up
that’s Josh that’s Lee that’s Travis and
we would
no and and the other thing is I always
wrote songs for those streams so I wrote
one song per game and now I have the
album songs in the key of D and D but
but they would expect that and to the
point of now almost in every stream I go
and I don’t sing a little ukulele song
there’s someone there being like where’s
that where’s my where’s my song so
there’s a level of like friendly
expectation there’s definitely a given
of take and for the most part you can
look at Twitter or Facebook and say oh
look how many followers or friends i I
have and look at that number and it has
grown but I prefer to think of them as
more of yeah like actual friends people
that come up to me and say hey I just
want to say hi and I’m like yeah like
you you think that just because I don’t
know your face I don’t know who you are
but I know you I really really do so it
feels really good the last thing I’ll
say is this year I had a goal I do a lot
of like self work and one of the things
that I was supposed to do back in March
or April was name my year and I had done
a lot of work in my year was misfit no
more and I can definitely say I
definitely say that I feel like I belong
I like how you name years like their
episodes of a TV creative name like I I
would definitely not submit that as a
title for is no longer a misfit and your
friends I’m so excited for that
character in a D&D game I think for for
me and I get to I’ve almost been I don’t
wanna see coattails in a way but like
like I came onto this far bit far after
the rest of you guys so when I came into
this thing and you guys all embraced me
you know and then oh shoot don’t do that
I’m gonna cry before that before that
what like how I got here well I was in
the early version of community
in gaming right I was getting there that
doesn’t just start off combat well it’s
only for for me coming into this like I
didn’t have a whole lot of experience
with streaming most of the stuff I had
been doing the long form or movie or I
was doing voiceover for stuff and when I
did my D&D experience was mostly
adventurously to be in a way they were
organized play and so when I really got
into that I you know jumped in
feet-first face-first whatever I’m gonna
go feet first with Allen because then
when they handed me a module and they
said hey somebody didn’t show up can you
run this and I’m like sure I haven’t
played this one I’ll just you know run
it and going from that to running seven
games nine games in a convention and
having prepped in one of them being an
epic that I had to draw maps for like do
all the crazy stuff that community not
only being like like accepting of me as
an individual when I sat down at the
table is the first time to play but then
is in an individual when I’m the one
that steps up and as you can like has to
facilitate their fun and being like yes
this is the thing you can do and then
now we go to conventions and like that’s
mostly probably been where we build the
most on that because like you say you
know you know the names of the people
that are there because because they’re
interacting with you so much and like I
met a lot of our fans for like at the
convention and they’re like hey I know
you and I’m like cool yeah and then like
actually like a lot of our people like
wow you actually like stayed and talked
to you I’m like yeah why wouldn’t I
yeah cuz I go to you all the time on the
Internet yeah wait yeah you’re you’re a
part of these things you know just the
same as everything else so when the
opportunity to to see this community
kind of grow and rally around us and
then like also Hollywood’s up a scary
place for a lot of people and it doesn’t
let people in and people don’t like
people come out here with these dreams
and expectations of something and it’s
you really it’s a game of attrition and
so to find people that are like-minded
especially that want to play games that
nobody else wants to play original yeah
that that’s such an awesome community to
be involved in like I’m so thankful to
be sitting here on this couch with you
guys and to have the people that are in
our games and have the people that we
get to play with and the people that
want to watch us because they they
commiserate with our stories not not
just our story on the table but our
story that we came out here with and
they find courage in the courage we find
in each other that’s really just the
cyclical takes a village kind of thing
it’s it’s to that point too and when you
when you meet somebody and you’ve both
come from a gaming background it’s
different than like having a similar
interest of like a movie or a television
show or it’s closer to a book in
somewhat cases because you’ve been
through this adventure together but when
you’ve had your own individual
experiences when it’s separate times
you’ve both climbed the you know the
tower the Temple of Elemental Evil it’s
it’s like both love that movie or that
scene it’s like I lost my childhood
friend in that chamber with the stone
goggles
I remember that chamber it was a bitch
it’s that it’s something so visceral and
so immediately bonding between the two
of you and since these mean growing up
with the communities that were so
disparate and and so localized a
different game
you know gaming stores and internet
communities and watching it evolve and
expand and become more accepting and
more open and more inviting we now see
this wonderful merger of the the
old-school gamers that were there when
the game first launched back in the 70s
in places the 80s and then we have a
community people that grew up like that
but then got too busy and got a family
and kids and are now you know
reintroducing themselves in their family
demeaning community and we have all
these new young kids that never had
exposure to it that now are experiencing
and learning what this incredible format
of communal storytelling is all coming
together and I see gaming groups of many
generations you would never expect to
see in the same room together at a
convention running one shots for other
people or for their gaming group and
they’re all just genuinely excited to
create together and there there isn’t
like a strange hero-worship element
there isn’t like a weird separation
they’re there with
you they understand that you’re a person
that just wants to have fun yeah we’re
there people and there are people and
there aren’t a lot of lot of forms of
media that allow that type of connection
and and because of that the community
feels so much more personal yeah there’s
actually noticing recently how we’re all
excited to play together whereas in the
90s and you know in the last ten years
it’s like hey let’s go see a movie but
that importance of getting there three
hours ahead of time looks like we’re
gonna go to a place and not talk well
that’s fun and all but why don’t we just
spend that five hours and play together
and that’s really important that’s I
love 2017 it’s really interesting you
bringing up the word play actually there
was a stigma there used to be where I
was like I can’t tell men that I play
D&D because they they will look at me
and say I love you and and and this is
real like this is totally totally my
experience where it was like but I’m a
three-dimensional infinite person like
this isn’t the only thing that is cool
about me however now looking back I’m
like it was a connection that that both
people were misinterpreting it really
just meant let’s play let’s play let’s
play whatever that was like you I would
like to play and I like to play yeah I
love you because I know that we have
this possible yeah Emily play is such an
important word universally in life I
think culturally we try so hard to teach
ourselves to stop playing separate from
it yeah to understand that you have to
maintain this this persona of an adult
is responsible and doesn’t do these
childish things like play anymore and I
think you lose something that’s so
intrinsically important to enjoy life
when you do that and it’s games like
tabletop gaming and communities like
this that help people cultivate that
again or never lose it because it’s in
that space where you let go of that that
responsibility and allow yourself to
just enjoy creating with other people
that you you find happiness and all
other aspects of your life you find
lasting relationships and connections
with people and friendships and I mean
this is just one avenue of what we’re
doing what the community is doing but
it’s one of the strongest avenues I’ve
ever discovered to allow us to never you
know lose that sense of play
so important my parents like never
touched the game before in their lives
would probably have been categorized in
that group that was like D&D isn’t that
like Satan worshipping like are you sure
that that’s a I mean like my mom when I
when I introduced them to it in like
Christmas of 2014 with 5e coming out and
I like how does my mom like asked me to
do a thing that was gonna take like 2 or
3 hours that I really didn’t want to do
it was like sit down and watch some show
or something like that I was like I will
make you a deal I will trade you 45
minutes of D&D for your two hour program
and she tried to back out after we made
the deal and I said are you trying to
raise a child that does not keep their
word that’s a Covell sight checkmate
yeah and she goes absolutely not
six hours later with my sister my best
friend from high school and my mom all
sitting around playing panda over and
then my dad wakes up he was sick he
wakes up in the first and like now that
my mom is just like running around like
this is amazing she played her
character’s name is Lancelot let’s talk
about like the starting the starting
creativity point and to now what she
creates cuz her mind just went crazy on
that right and then my dad wakes up and
he’s like sir so wait so like could I
like build a town could I have a like a
business yeah dad you can do all of
these things and if there’s not rules
I’ll make them up and they’re just like
now they’re invested they watch our
shows they like go through my dad’s I’m
not gonna say what his handle is on
twitch but my dad is on twitch to watch
the things that we do with our friends
yeah he’s invested in what’s going he
has me questions so I’m like dad I can’t
tell you that it would ruin it that’s a
good segue to the first question how has
gaming helped you in life now some of us
have been playing for over 20 years
and some of us have been playing for
under 20 years different stages of life
I’ll say for me gaming I owe everything
to it like I mean gaming of all types
board games video games but tabletop
gaming taught me social skills at a time
where I didn’t have the opportunity to
really feel comfortable enough and to
lose that sense of you know not wanting
to let go in a social space it triggered
my love of performing arts and got me
into theater which then got me into
acting and then got me into my whole
life right now
it helped me facilitate a level of
comfort to be able to take charge of a
social situation and drive it when no
one else is making a decision that’s the
the GM yeah hers when no one else is
driving the story you have to take
charge of movement yeah and that is that
has put me into leadership positions in
different situations that has then given
me comfort to create in spaces i io most
of my closest friends
I owe my fiance is that my relationship
with her you know one of the first
things he bonded over was me running D&D
for her before we were even dating like
so much of my life so like I yeah it’s
changed me irrevocably genuinely they’ll
be rocking chairs on the porch that’s
like six of them like lined up in a row
and a little table and probably still
live stream problem tackling is coming
faster than we want it to I think that
it’s you know in a strange way like I
had a lot of that stuff growing up you
and I have talked a lot about like our
childhoods and and the way that we found
solace in gaming and we found like these
things left and right that I started
performing arts super young so I almost
came in reverse of that right uh and I
was in the military for a really long
time and I went to war and I came back
and one of the things that tabletop
gaming has done for me
has been to temper my take charge
because I can be an aggressive person if
I have to be and my voice can be very
commanding but gmae teaches you how to
control the flow of emotion with the
people you’re connected to or how to
connect to those people by drawing that
thing ends the team does this really
Rhythmics know things and sometimes you
utilize that same thing and then
sometimes it’s like where you’re just
like you know and that’s a that’s a
moment that when I realized that it had
evened me out a little bit and dare I
say that I have some form of PTSD that
that is a thing that that makes that
world normal and then that the friends
that I have from the military or the
friends that like work at Wizards that
were in the military and went to war
like we have these conversations about
like yeah you too awesome and now
there’s all this science backing up the
Dungeons & Dragons or role playing or
what have you is helpful for somebody’s
mental health when the 80s was saying
literally Tom Hanks will jump off a
building like that’s such a powerful
like look for a GM there is no finer
moment than that moment where you pull
the rug out from and say look at that
you were standing on the truth the whole
time and you chose to look the other way
and that’s really what society did and
that’s what we’re finding out this stuff
is actually good for you writing a book
on it right yeah
well beyond you know I get to put this
on my resume now like clip plays D&D and
has played for a long time that that’s
incredible 14 D Party leaders what 14 D
for DNA you’re playing D D for D yeah
I’m playing for yes exactly
yeah I guess I guess yeah we can
announce that now but beyond beyond that
gaming in general I I did a lot of work
um like a or I did a lot of research
about what happiness was and there were
three things that made people happy and
they are community being feeling like
you actually do belong somewhere which
is arguably the hardest one to actually
accomplish and then the second one is
sustainability so if you can’t literally
pay for food that’s a big factor but but
between earning a decent living and then
earning a billion dollars a year there’s
not that much increase in happiness it’s
like if you can sustain yourself that’s
where the happiness comes from and then
the third one is making other people
happy making other people smile it has
nothing to do with you and I think that
you know gaming obviously for some of us
can help pay the bills but if they can’t
like at least crosses those two things
off the list and it’s community and it
is making other people feel really good
and you and you get that joy right away
so the biggest metaphor I can think of
is actually with my family we they don’t
really play D&D I’m the only vorpal
who’s taking up the mantle but we do
game a lot cards poker any tabletop
games and and I’ve got a huge big old
Catholic family so every Thanksgiving or
Christmas law sit around and there’s a
the biggest thing is will show up and
it’s like there is drama there just is
with all these people this one’s got a
kid all of a sudden the guys not doing
great
this one’s got a mental disorder this
one’s over here doing all this crazy
stuff and then we’re like who cares do
you want to play like if and it’s this
thing where it’s like we’ve all got our
shit who cares I love you and the way
I’m showing you that I love you is to
deal out a debt like heart so we’re
gonna play hearts together spades you
want to be my partner great don’t mess
this up you know like the other stuff
doesn’t matter because we’re able to to
really really look at what’s important
and that is problem-solving and puzzling
out things together it’s one of the
things too about the the idea of
humanity where were tribal people by
nature we we’ve survived and evolved and
adapted by helping each other progress
and helping each other be better people
mm-hmm would that be through religion
whether that be through just common
interests whether it be just through
basis of survival and as we’ve gotten
this new technology age there’s been
this this push of kind of individual
segmented separate selfish world outlook
mm-hmm I’m focused purely on my needs
and what the next thing I need to
achieve mm-hmm is in front of me
Gaming is one of the one of the few
things I find that universally brings
people back to that tribal to the space
that face-to-face element of us sharing
experience together and working towards
a common goal and to the family element
what you’re saying I’ve seen so many
families I mean talk about like you know
that the weird teenage years or the
parents and the kids don’t get along
I’ve seen so many pictures and heard so
many stories about families that through
role-playing games and through tabletop
games have rediscovered a family game
night and as such read that reforged a
bond
yeah and a love and appreciation between
parents and children and it’s just it’s
awe-inspiring and so exciting oh yeah I
want to jump in when you kept saying for
D and E for Dini I kept hearing like
fourth edition or something playing and
we always throw out the release anyways
just saying about like you know we’re so
the 80s really in America is where we
had that whole wall street like we’re
speaking this is about me at my own in
blah blah and the last 30 years
basically our entire existence has been
that whole like that’s the way that
things go in the internet seemed like it
was pushing that way until we created
these little communities or like it’s
almost like we’re where the resistance
going the older generation sees the
selfies and the snapchats and those
stories and the streams and they see
narcissism and what it really is is no
we’re this is our way after this is like
a fast way to have friends like we’re
we’re making friends faster than you
ever could narcissus
okay what have been the most important
lessons learned from live streaming
games about like how to or really it’s
your interpretation yeah yeah I I want
to jump in and say that uh humility
there there is it is it is a big fat
mirror when a cameras on you and and you
there is especially for me I’m a
steamroller and I want to tell my story
as a player you know and and with that
when that camera is on you were just
hyper aware that like wait that person
you you were watching it through the
lens so they might go like this and it’s
like oh wait they were gonna have that
moment and I I might have taken it from
them and and it’s this humility of like
well then I’m shutting up for a while so
so that someone else can shine and
there’s there’s this need there’s this
need to tell your story and then you
just need to realize there’s also would
need to let the other person tell theirs
and listen to them unless yeah I’m gonna
jump the order and put Matt under the
bus on this packable you say humility in
many different ways I mean putting
yourself out there for community to
experience and something that is so
personal as playing a game with people
you care about can be a very very
sensitive thing and the Internet is not
always a very kind place so you learn
quickly one to try your best to tune it
out and you won’t always succeed because
we are by nature insecure people that
are trying to reach out for some purpose
and other people around us but it’s it’s
an important lesson for that process
I’ve learned to focus instead on the
positive to focus on the people that are
along with you and excited for it and
more importantly listen to your players
because ultimately you’re there for the
experience of you and everybody at the
table and as long as you’re being
genuine and you’re having a good time
everyone else who matters will fall into
and come along with you mm-hmm
so I think I figured it out okay better
be good I know right so I think that for
what I learned most from that is
that we have a responsibility as the
people that are showing other people
what this is I mean to a degree
regardless of what how good our game is
or how bad it is people look at that and
go oh that’s how I’m supposed to do that
this is what’s acceptable right so we
have a responsibility to the people that
are out there not to necessarily
handhold them through a game that we
don’t we have the responsibility to make
this community real and to say like I’m
I’m setting something up that shows you
what’s acceptable in this game but also
what’s acceptable about how to treat
each other how many things in life did
we learn from D&D like just the things
that you and Satine were talking about
during your GM tips is that you know
like you’re talking about the the
moments that you learned something that
was a life lesson and we are here to
pass that torch in a way to people that
are on the other side yeah show them
that they can do that thing and then
also to help get rid of the bad stuff
that has that plagued us for so long as
individuals or as a community with
gaming its suicide or mental health care
issues that we are here to help you with
because you’re not alone we’ve we’ve all
gone through these things and that’s
like a it’s that’s on accident like
we’re learning and we’re playing weird
people who have our own set of issues
you know and we are learning about
boundaries and how to communicate with
each other and it’s all a learning
process and yeah it’s funny because I
see all this text on the internet like
that’s how you’re supposed to do it this
is a this is exactly the one way to do
the thing and it’s like I’m going to
your GM tips to learn the way and it’s
like the most important thing is that we
are all fallible and we and you have to
learn from your mistakes we’re all being
a beer and you can’t punish somebody for
four and make it having accidents you
know like do your best all you all you
can do is
better the next time and then try to
protect those people when they do try to
keep them you know like even if you have
to take a step back from a thing and you
need to take a break
you need to have a moment where you’re
like I need to step back and sometimes
you don’t see it sometimes somebody else
has to tell you like hey I think it’s
gonna be a good idea for you to maybe
sit out a little bit maybe take a couple
weeks and that you don’t know to do that
unless you’ve seen somebody else do it
or you’ve seen something like nature
versus nurture the nature part is we
wake up and we’re like oh shoot I’m
hungry
outside of that almost everything else
is nurture based on what we’ve learned
from the people around us and that’s
what we’re trying to do we nurture our
communities we nurture each other we
nurture our players at the table we
nurture each other as DMS and that’s
what we get out of this whole thing from
live-streaming is it just a bigger
platform to help people yeah we get a
mic the drop and we’ll put it in post
can it just be sprinkles the drop out of
my hat okay so the community the greater
community what is your what are your
different experiences with the people
who are on these adventures with you not
at your table but the people that are
watching the players oh my god when when
you jumped off a cliff and turn into a
goldfish I felt that way amazing and
then when you see you can see that like
it’s it’s not just about the GM you know
it’s about everybody that’s there and
and for me when Stettin melts people’s
brains cuz I made one of the Sion things
as if she goes in to investigate
somebody’s mind she’s got a role to see
how connected she is if she crits they
melt I
which is hilarious Lourdes she never
crits so I’m thought it was safe yeah
yeah moment you taught fate right yeah
recently ask me how you dice treating
you and I was like randomly it’s surreal
I mean none of us when this when this
experience we had to emerge expected the
scope of community let alone the impact
and the the connection that we’d have
with it and the think responsibility of
what you mentioned before is so big on
this because we suddenly find ourselves
thrust in this space where so many
people are looking up to us that it’s
our responsibility to be honest with the
fact that all of our experiences all of
our games all of our tips are just
suggestions mm-hmm and that everything
we offer is from our own personal
experiences and there’s such a wider
breadth of experiences out there to
learn from beyond just us but as a
community we’re allowing them to go out
and find that and getting the chance to
interact with these people who have been
so invested in our stories I mean it
it’s it’s humbling it’s inspiring I have
cried many times in public in front of
complete strangers because you hear
stories you don’t realize how much of an
impact his story can have on somebody’s
life how many people out there I mean I
we get we get emails weekly at people
saying I was on the I was literally
planning to kill myself and then I saw
your show and I wanted to see what
happen next episode next episode next
episode and Here I am six months later
and I found myself and I found the job
and I found someone who loves me and
that’s common and you you you think
about how many people in this world just
need that connection they need something
they need a story to hold on to they
need something to represent that
darkness and the hope that a lot of this
world doesn’t allow and I think
ultimately what these stories allow for
what the purpose of a role-playing game
story in essence is to create hope and
allow a path to that through challenge
fraught with difficulty but to allow
hope
yeah and that resonates with so many
people out there and we just not only
grant that to them but empower them the
ability to then go and create their own
yeah and that isn’t read alone
at GenCon like and Rudy you know me like
I’ve never I’ve always felt like the
weird alien girl who sits at the
sidelines and is almost kind of accepted
everyone like a little bit but I’m gen
con’ was phenomenal and I was like
people are wanting to take selfies and
I’m like you don’t know how lonely I
feel and that like they would take a
selfie that I whip out my camera I’m
gonna make like I haven’t had time yet
but I want to make all the selfies that
people posted and the ones on my phone
like I’m making like a photo of it like
a collage because like they don’t
understand that for the first time in my
whole life I no longer feel like a weird
alien like I actually like I can share
something with thousands and thousands
of people and I like I mean that that
rock that had been sitting on my
shoulders and go on like I don’t feel a
look I don’t think I’ll ever feel really
alone ever again and it’s just because
of this fucking community like it’s the
coolest thing you know seven years when
we did the charity event I could never
ever have imagined this guy this beauty
and all this amazing things that we
shared just because we are little ass
kids like I don’t get me cut you off
from your sharing but like I am so
grateful I’m so grateful that you guys
are here sharing these last episodes of
this with me because like this is why we
do it I think knows what you do it
that’s what you do it and you and you
and it’s just like I think we’re the
luckiest because we actually have a
community that gets it like I don’t
we don’t have trolls we have love like
we have people who are like to be hurt
roads
paladin’s too might roll quickly it’s
the ratio because no one’s going to
watch something they hate for three oh
my god episode 14 was the worst like
dude if you’re there for that many
episodes we wrap really quick but I want
to hear you okay I have two things to
say one is when you said alien it struck
a chord because in college in theatre
there was a man in the boy a kid in the
green room and he was like I didn’t get
cast I you know or they cast me as this
clown but I always get casted as a clown
I never get cast as a real person no one
thinks I’m a real person and I go oh
party like I think you’re a real person
and he goes great that alien person all
these weirdos like found it found
something here so why not weird that I
think I got weird
we aren’t we’re just us and that is the
coolest thing that we are super honest I
hate to end this but you guys are just
beautiful and amazing and thank you guys
for watching this has just been
incredible that’s the end of our show
you guys tell everyone where they can
find you on the Internet
I think maybe we should do this again in
here yeah you’re sitting over there I
know
you can find all of us here on a pretty
regular basis yeah you’re being sundry
alpha the internet mais Arcana anywhere
that you can literally google us and pop
that stuff up go ahead
social media find me at Matthew Mercer
on Twitter at Matthew Mercer vo on
Instagram and critical role here
Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific on geek and
sundry’s twitch and I’m at vorpal sword
on all of the things I am Rudi woot on
basically all of the things and then you
can find me on D&D twitch.tv slash D&D
on Wednesdays and then occasionally on
Tuesdays doing some some D&D there and
the maze Arcana on Sundays running some
orphan echo and abiram
as always I’m Satine Phoenix at SETI
Phoenix you can pick up and play one of
my guild add up supplements for the tomb
of annihilation on team skill comm watch
me and her and him on sagas of sundry
dread on project alpha comm catch me
live with this guy every Sunday at noon
on Mesa connoisseur phonetic oh I love
my life TV slash D&D are you ready to
that backwards I don’t care we’re doing
it live Tuesday nights dungeon mastering
sirens of the realms with this lady on
twitch.tv slash dandy thank you guys for
watching this is awesome we love geeking
Center you love project alpha and
Nerdist and all these and we love you
see you guys next time
however uh we’re not ending oh oh I
actually ooh yes Satine yes well you GMS
ow oh yeah okay oh okay okay
okay full sprint running running through
this forest this horn goes off you’re
running you hear other things running
behind you and suddenly the ground falls
from beneath the three of you and you
all fall cascading down with the light
that is and the dirt and leaves and you
all hit the ground boom and it’s quiet
you hear footsteps from way above and
you look up and there’s just one beam of
light and the dust and finally you’re at
peace but you look at each other and
there’s this internal ticking clock
going on in your head and parts of your
face are falling off you’re looking and
his he’s got scales falling off and you
remember there’s one antidote and you
look down to the end of the room and
there is another small beam of light
cascading down and one golden vial and
you know that is the only antidote for
what you have and there’s three of you
who gets it first
I turn look up to the beam of light look
at these to shove them forward go
Baldwin
not alone I’m going in go get it girl I
do