Learning From Others - Critical Role

I'm not sure if I've spoken about Critical Role before or not, but it's recently become something I very much like. I watch the youtube videos and not only is it very entertaining, but it's also educational. In a way, Matt Mercer is a professional GM (since I assume he gets some money out of Critical Role) but that aside, he's also a very good one.

If you have the time - maybe while doing some other things - give it a watch. Listen to how Matt handles questions and issues on the fly, the way he is always rooting for his players but making sure they're within the bounds of the rules, and the way he quickly, and efficiently, handles small disputes at the table. He's one of the better examples of a "tough but fair" GM that I've seen, though I'm only about 7 episodes in at this point.

It's also refreshing to see how even a group doing a game as a show hits some of the same pitfalls and snags with miscommunication, disagreements on rules, and GM second-checking/guessing that my own games have. Makes me at least feel a little less alone in facing what are basically universal problems.

So take a look. See if you like it.