Critical Role’s Matthew Mercer on saying goodbye, but not yet I’ve only been able to really complete
one other campaign and that was a
two-year expedition to Ravenloft
campaign and even that being able to
finish the narrative is a wonderful and
and strangely sorrowful thing because
it’s it you know there is an incoming
but you’re excited to be able to finish
that story and send it off this you know
pushing on five years with the same
people with the same characters with
this this world that’s become something
so much larger than our home game it’s
every emotion I’ve solved multiple times
today just looking at the community
reactions online and how many people are
excited for this beyond just us and
scared for us it’s good for them at
least so it it’s it’s been surreal I’m
excited I’m scared
I’m overwhelmed I’m looking forward to
being able to send this story off in a
way that’s fitting and give the love to
it that we have to this campaign
regardless of how it is and the same
time I’m really excited to see what new
adventures with new stories and new
relationships we get to the forge of the
next campaign and do you know anything
about the next campaign same universe
and new universe the next campaign is
gonna be same universe probably a
different place in the world about a
generation later I’ve had people ask
like you know exactly when is this
campaign I’m like I have some ideas and
you know they shift based on what I’m
building preparing but it’ll be a better
generation later and many of the
decisions they’ve made and many of the
things they’ve done will have some
impact on how the world has progressed
since then so I hope to and weave those
into the nerve in the future and if if
they succeed or they fail those will
definitely have impact on the next
adventure they play which is an exciting
possibility – so I that’s as a writer
it’s a very surreal experience to be
building a world and building a story
that you have to wait to see how it
plays that before you can continue the
next major beat its your relationships
with these friends of yours has to have
irrevocably changed because you see each
other on a regular basis and you’re
creating the show for four years I can
only assume that makes people a lot
closer I anybody who’s played a
role-playing game for an extended period
of time can attest to the fact that you
forge friendships and relationships at
the table where you play these games
stronger than most I mean I most of my
closest friends I’ve ever had are people
that I gained with and a lot of that has
to do with the fact that I mean the
experience of playing role-playing game
is like the best team-building exercise
your your building relationships where
you learn each other’s strengths and
weaknesses both as people in his
characters and you know you know the
insides and and out of how they react to
scenarios and how to prepare to best
support each other and at the end of any
major story you can’t help but come out
of there with the memory the visceral
memory of actually being immersed in the
story not you playing a game not this
character existed you’d talk to your
friends like remember that time that we
were trying to jump across that bridge
and it was collapsing beneath us but you
pulled out the rope you know it’s always
you and me it’s never when you know this
character or your cleric did that
necessarily you know and you’ve played
enough to the point it’s like you were
all there and you’ve been through this
transformative journey together and you
can’t help but have it impact your
friendships and you know when we started
this game I was loosely a friends with
most of the people involved and close
friends like a handful in the in Towson
or each other for years and meemers I
began dating most everybody else was a
you know an acquaintance a work friend
who we were just trying to just started
hanging out a little bit and through
this game I’ve built some of the
strongest friendships I’ll have
hopefully for the rest of my life
I’ve so much to thank for this game to
bring these people into my life and you
know help forge these friendships so
yeah it’s changed a lot it’s changed
everything what do you want people to
feel about I mean this entire camp
at the end of the day when all send them
I want people I want people to
understand that every heroic journey has
sacrifices that every person has moments
in their life where they have to make
tough decisions and the people that can
in the face of great danger of great
sorrow of great seemingly unbeatable
odds can continue to find that strength
in themselves and the people they care
about to still fight for what they think
is important
I hope stories like this can resonate
with people and inspire them to carry
that energy into the real world you know
and that’s that’s what I think
storytelling as a medium is is what what
it’s best used for I think it’s so
important so powerful to use to inspire
people to be better people it’s inspired
me to be Who I am today and still aspire
to be a better person because of the
characters that I read about and played
growing up so with this tale I Holbox
mocking the story has been able to show
people that every hero is in their own
way broken and fucked up that you can
still be a broken person and aspire to
be better you don’t have to fix yourself
but you can still crystallize the idea
of what’s right and what how you see the
world could be and then make action to
change it and bring it closer to that
ideal and even if even if they fall
tonight the the way the world is rally
behind them the way that the people have
have come together through this
narrative will have an impact on the end
you know I don’t think loss in the face
of this battle is gonna be like a
complete horrible TPK world’s over death
ha ha ha you lose you know it’s not a
game over screen they’ve sparked
something by their you know journey
their sacrifices those that remain those
who survive those who escape the next
world the next story will have that seed
of Hope of Bach’s machina had left that
there is a chance there are people still
willing to make the sacrifice
and the next camp Amy very maybe very
much trying to you know rebuild the
world in that shadow and continue where
they left off you know as a dungeon
master you have to to build challenges
and build a story that has real stakes
that has the capability of of loss and
failure because that’s part of learning
experience of life to and from failure
you can pick up and still aspire to
succeed in other ways not everything can
be a victory and anyone who’s lived in
the real world for a period of time
that’s a very necessary less than have
something I think that a lot of modern
media shiz away from huffin and it’s
frustrating in a lot of ways but I’d
like to see them succeed I hope they do
they have to have the tools to do so if
the dice are with them if they if they
are clever and there was all the strong
I think they have a good chance of
succeeding which i think is really the
drive of any good story you want to give
them a good chance of succeeding but the
opportunity to fail and see where the
story takes you from there how do you
define success because when I was in
college you know we’re in film school
and theater and we’re prepping to be
actors and directors and
cinematographers and all this stuff you
have this unique thing that didn’t exist
at that time where you’re not beholding
to anyway you created this universe you
and your friends create these characters
you’ve been creating this story and how
you interact with each other and that’s
it like I can’t imagine anyone
interferes with that right like this is
all this is your baby this is something
that you’ve created and you’ve made and
now there is a book and now there’s a
comic book in terms of like pure you
know artistic aspirations this is it for
a lot of people and maybe they wouldn’t
recognize that right away because it’s
role-playing and because it’s a new
thing because it’s on Twitch but like
this this art form has to be completely
different for you it’s a very different
art form and there have been people that
have tried to give suggestions or
nudge how to how to elevate the media
and it’s been very much no it’s not
about this we’re not trying to build
something we’re just trying to continue
what we’ve been doing and invite other
people to be part of that I think when
it comes down to it for any game
mastering Dungeon Master you do it out
of love it’s fun it’s a game but it’s a
gift to your players and that’s such
they gift it back to you they take
something that you’ve built something
you’ve made for them and they bring it
to life and change it and twist it and
and make it into something you didn’t
expect and hand it back to you and say
what’s next and it’s that type of that
dynamic that relationship that that
perpetual gifting back and forth that
makes such a magical experience at the
table so I mean I’d I calling it an art
form is a strange thing because it’s
something that so you know personal and
so misunderstood for so long it’s just a
game in a basement you know full of
people standpoints but but it is it’s an
art form where you creating art for your
friends and you hope they enjoy it and
you know every now then you get a rough
game and get a rough table or
combination of players and that just
comes through communication in advance
and making sure that you are all on the
same page and what you want out of this
experience that every game groups gonna
gel not every gems gonna be able to
provide the experience you’re looking
for but when you find those people it is
it’s just it’s an entrancing
collaborative effort to create this
space that doesn’t exist anywhere else
it’s only for you and it’s wonderful
it’s it’s magical it’s inspiring it’s
made me a better person and by extension
this strange you know almost two and a
half three years now we’ve been
streaming this this community that’s
rallied around it we’ve gone off and
created their own stories and their own
adventures and now some in a world that
spun from my brain then intentionally
it’s it’s a it’s a very surreal and very
wonderful thing and I just don’t ever
want it to change or get ruined I’m very
very protective
and ending this campaign has been a very
nerve-wracking experience knowing how
many people are invested in this beyond
just our table but at the same time
every story has to come to an end but
that end also leads to a new beginning
but they’re more invested in you guys
and you in the story that you’re telling
I hope I hope they are guess we’ll find
out the next campaign all the diamonds
like this bullshit I’m gonna watch it
hope it’s not the case I totally do not
like Towson this new character it’s
possible but to be fair like you know
sometimes you’re introduced to a
character AR and you don’t like that
character until a point in the narrative
reveals an aspect of their personality
that you can connect with or you
misunderstood them at the beginning and
now you’re like oh I didn’t like them
because they’re very much like me I see
that often in a lot of streaming games a
lot of people will dislike a character
and then come around and they realized
that it was because it was a reflection
of parts of themselves they then they
themselves weren’t really a fan of and
once they realized that and the
narrative journey became one that they
kind of want to go on for themselves to
better themselves they become more
invested and that’s been a really
fascinating thing I wasn’t expecting
either the whole sociology the sociology
of investing and another person’s
role-playing experience and how that
affects you as a as a viewer let alone a
gamer at the table is just an emerging
interesting form of psychology I’m not
peering into there’s gonna be a moment
when you’re at the table and you’re
gonna say goodbye to the camera and
that’s gonna be it
how does that make you feel
I don’t know
my eyes are always hard even you’re
sending the stories you know really
emotional thing today it’s just been
tears driving local times saying that
the messages and the tweets and our how
many people are with us on this journey
and I hope I hope the day where I get to
have to say goodbye for the last time is
a ways off and on my own terms
and after telling some good stories but
you know tonight’s go be great
it’ll be great one way or another it’s
gonna be fun a lot of a lot of surprises
not twists and turns a lot of a lot of
cool things to emerge so I hope hope
people enjoy it I hope the players enjoy
it for a stressed out as they are about
this and glaring at me with the fear of
what have what have you planned I’m
excited I’m scared I’m overwhelmed what
effect of these fans have on you oh
because you don’t have a standoff
relationship of them like I’ve know many
people do sometimes for you directly
connect with fans I try to and then it
gets difficult on a certain scale I
never expected this scale of a community
to really give a shit who I am years ago
and so you know I can’t claims with
everybody but you know I I I was and am
a fan I’ve been going to conventions go
into panels about cartoons and video
games since I was in high school you
know I I I am the community as well
you know I don’t see a separation and
there are people that inspired me when I
was younger and people that I aspired to
be like her asked to guide me in certain
points where I needed some guidance and
if I can be that to even a few people
but now you are that person I guess and
it’s it’s
dating at times but it’s also it’s it’s
really really nice it’s really beautiful
and I hope to live up to that and do
good and really when it comes down to it
it’s fun make the world a better place
you’re doing that so emotional today
Haitian to be fair is the end of them
4-year campaign yeah I think I think
being emotional about it is the right
response I hope so yeah I think at this
point the Internet’s used to seeing me
cry on camera enough for it’s not a big
deal anymore that’s my hope
https://t.co/fFTPlngtru— D&D Beyond (@DnDBeyond) October 12, 2017
A glorious final scene to end a wondrous campaign. Thanks, #VoxMachina! Hugs and kisses! #wotcstaff Thank you for coming along with us, Mr Inspiration. <3
— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) October 13, 2017
