so many one shots hit hard for me. the tears of the kingdom one shot was fantastic but both of liam’s one shots were so good; specifically the second one. i think about “i’m richer for having known you” at least once a week
It’s honestly not a big surprise that Liam is a natural DM, he plays like a DM. I don’t know how to really articulate it, but the way he describes actions when he plays, how he uses his characters to nudge the story in directions but not in a generally obnoxious way? He just comes off as a DM. It’s just vibes.
I feel like C2 really made me fall in love with Liam as an actor. In my highly subjective opinion, I feel like most of the players fell into the Jester trap - a character trait becoming so defining that it consumes or overshadows their growth or development. In some cases, regression. Fjord became bumbling without rebuilding his confidence, Beau leaned into disaster lesbian and arrogant leader, Veth/Nott seemed to often forget they had a family at all in many instances, and Yasha struggled to catch up with character development due to other obligations. Caleb, on the other hand, slowly seems to overcome his terror and anxiety, finding a purpose beyond helping Nott and growing beyond her care, never giving into the lure of joining the others in being comedic outside of what would be appropriate for his character.
C2 Calib's tower... Again a love letter to his fellow players... Matt dnt have to DM much that game cas liam painted a picture with his words Sooooo well
@@SaraL22 Which is why I asked if he was doing it when that interview first happened. I don't know if he said exactly when he started playing with his kids.
If Matt’s DMing style is a book, Liam’s is a rollercoaster. I can actually extend this, too: Aabria’s style is a movie, and Brennan’s is a cartoon (even in his serious moments - everything is just turned up to 11)
Liam talks about the yellow fabric of his shirt multiple times, he's running an eldritch/cosmic horror one-shot- SURELY he's giving a subtle/unsubtle nod to the King In Yellow
Agreed. Watching the way he played Caleb in CR 2 not only for roleplay but also gameplay will always be some of my favorite and most inspiring CR moments.
@@BigKlingy it's like a gift to us all. And I don't think he would want it any other way. He got a gift and he just wanted to pass it on, he's always been that person to give what was given. He's just a wonderful person to everyone. They all are honestly.
Not to stir something up, but he isnt even the best player at his regular table. IMO he's usually the annoying player at their table. I feel the most unjustified thing is, that marisha got shit in c1 and liam didnt (at least it felt that way to someone who got into crit in c2).
I love that crazy, manic, run-on (or almost run-on) sentence style of horror narration, and Liam pulled it off in a way that puts the best Lovecraft audiobook readers to shame.
31:16 I love how Laura and Taliesin are like super in character, like they can see it happening in front of their eyes and they could be crushed at any moment. And then Sam and Travis are the exact opposite, like they are absolutely thrilled to be here today listening to this story unfold. It's so cute. I miss the old days of CR and the gang.
My favorite one shot is the nightmare before Critmas. To the point where instead of Elf on the Shelf my sons have Chutney. Hes retired from shelf duty and guarantees a cheap wood toy every year
@@mutedimagination666 I understand it can be seen as that way for other people and that becoming a parent is one of the greatest and selfless goals in life a person can have but it's not something fits for me and my life. The idea of using chutney as a replacement of an elf on the shelf is amazing and I still might borrow that idea for my nieces and nephews when they visit during the holidays.
@@casolock honestly that's fair my ex had the same view it hurt that she didn't want kids at all but I know there's people like that out there at least you're upfront and honest about it
"Taliesin, you've been at home, writing an unreleated project/" *defeated sigh* "uuuuuugh, why would I do that?" The most Taliesin response! XD I've only seen clips of this one-shot! I'm so glad you're covering it!!!
I have never watched this episode personally, but hearing Liam DM like this (and the theme of the oneshot itself) reminds me a lot of the podcast Welcome to Nightvale. If you haven’t seen it I would recommend it, I’ve gotten a lot of good ideas from it for roleplaying.
I had always thought that this episode was Liam ripping on all the people that said everything that happened on Critical Role was scripted. Also, I low key wonder if this is how they really act when on set or in the sound booth lol. Thirdly, for whatever reason, when Liam said, "you see the water ripple" my mind instantly went, "oh shit, the Rex is loose!" Only to remind myself that they're on the Warner Bros lot and Rexy is by Universal 🤣
I think they said after the game that they were playing things up a bit in the sound booth scene, for the benefit of the audience. I'm pretty sure the vocal warm up was heightened for comedy, based on Laura and Liam's reactions lol
His Persona one shot was the first time I ever saw him GM. He's got such a chill personality when it comes to setting up the story and giving players a chance to ease into the story. He's supportive and collaborative. I love it.
"At a convention in Australia?" The date of this episode is about exactly when I got into Critical Role, so I probably JUST missed them! Noooooo..... (did get to meet Travis and Laura in 2017 though) The whole "shorthand" thing with the intro reminds me of one of my favourite advantages of "urban fantasy" as a genre: you don't need much exposition. Being set in "the real world" means you don't have to explain magi-babble, elaborate creation myths, war backstories, worldbuilding, "you're on your way to school/work and then weird things happen" is enough of an intro. The layers of meta on that "[Liam]'s smiling, but he looks a little tense"... I agree on Liam's "conversational style", and I think the "this looks like... [insert descriptive word here]. No not really, more like..." style works well for horror. Not knowing how to describe what you're looking at is often a cornerstone of the genre. One thing not mentioned here is Liam narrating Taliesin's kill as "In what manner do you wish to kill this?" Also, Travis "revealed" at the end of the session that he had a note on his character sheet that said: "Kill Sam". The other players, and the audience, aren't sure whether he's joking or not. If it's true, it'd explain the PVP.
You've absolutely nailed why Liam is so great in general. I put off watching CR for the longest time as the appearances I had seen of them in other campaigns gave an impression of people who take themselves too seriously or are just too exuberant or full on. So I decided to start from the very beginning, before they were huge. My favourite players are the ones that don't so much get invited to guest in other big campaigns. Liam is effortless and Laura is pure gold...you sum up why perfectly in this video.
I remember going through the Liam one shots after catching up on the VM campaign. Initially I was kinda rolling my eyes at the metaness of Liam's games but he won me over pretty quick. I still like to do the speak n spell voice every now and then
Thank you so much for covering this one! It had such a big impact on my DMing too. First game I ever ran was for my wife, my sister, and her boyfriend. I had them wake up as themselves in my parents house with me and my parents missing, and just gave them a chance to explore (with some goodies hidden around the place). All the windows were black and the TV was staticky. On the kitchen table were three “class” items, a baseball bat, a rosary, and a pack of magic cards, and the back door was open, but just to blackness. A note from me on the table told them that I had gone ahead and to choose an item and follow me. It was probably one of the best games I’ve run, everyone had a blast. Real case of beginners luck!
Another excellent video! Liam's first one-shots made me want to play a meta-game where we all play ourselves, which I still have never gotten the chance for unfortunately. I don't know if it's my favorite, but I liked Talisen's one-shot where they all played themselves as vampires. And Liam's second one-shot was just a riot, the first few minutes of the cast just trying to deal with being kids was just hilarious
I didn't really pay attention to the differences in DMing styles, but now that you mention it, I think I DM naturally leaning more towards Liam's style. It gives me a lot of more room to adjust to players derailing what I have planned. It also helps me keep the expectations grounded, in a more casual environment, which helps me as well to stay relaxed and to worry less if a word doesn't come to mind, because I can figure it out mid-sentence, and that aids in immersive the players as they are trying to understand what's going on as well.
14:28 I agree the "you find yourself in a tavern" and "what would your character be doing on a typical morning?" openings, while iconic, end up leaving things a little open ended, and don't really serve anything up for your players to latch on to. Even something like "It's morning, and you're healed up, but still a little sore from that barfight last night. You feel a little more bruises than you can remember taking, and you're not certain whether you won or lost, or how you got to your bed." gives much a more dynamic piece for someone to "yes, and" from. If I were to try and summarize my point, for your character to feel like they exist in the world, they need to know what happened yesterday, and how that's going to set up their actions today.
You should leave things open-ended or the players really wouldn't know what to do or say. You shouldn't just introduce some characters in a bar and leave it up to them to take it further. You should give them something else to go off of, "You just finished a quest....", or your other example. The problem isn't about leaving things open-ended instead, it's not giving your players anything else to go off of.
From memory, this is Liams first time DMing. I'd be nervous being DM for the first time livestreaming on the internet to whatever the CR audience is by this point.
My favorite one shot is for sure Liam's Quest in which all of the players play themselves- the ending is heart wrenching and so sweet "Liam, let no one tell you you're talented or special" "P**SY POCKETS"
Honestly, I fucking love Liam as a player. He carried C2 on his back. Caleb was a fantastic character and the fact that he was a utility wizard gave Liam so many tools to make cool shit. In C3, he's playing a super standard and usually boring class, and a character that doesn't have that much of a dramatic history or personality (all tragedy aside) and he STILL outshines everyone else. He should write a book or something
Liam saved my life, no joke, no lie, Vax saved me from dark times, AND all his one shots were SO good, literally his way of telling his friends how much he loves them, that last of the one shots when they were ALL there(robot liam) speech was a cryfest, would love you covering grogs one shot. i hope you cover all his one shots since it was technically all sequels XD
I love that Grog's one shot featured Travis' and Laura's campaign 2 characters and they had a little baby with them. This is before their pregnancy or C2 characters were announced.
Seeing you brekaing down Travis' GM as Grog would be a fun watch. Even if you know very little about VM. But it became a lot better and funnier if you are a CR fan. I was extra impressed once I heard that Travis was running the game for level 20 characters.
Can't agree more on the narration style when describing the SHTF-moment. It feels like a friend telling you something they saw or are seeing instead of "oooh spooky narration"
Just watched the one shot Liam did such a great job! Being a new GM especially when its Matt's shoes your filling in for is no small thing and Liam handled it super well. I love how the players recognized this as well especially Travis, he drops some hints to Liam that he hasnt actually had them roll any dice for quite a well but it isnt at all mean about it.
I just finished the first episode of Candela Obscura chapter 4. Liam killed it. I was very impressed. I think I sat watching my screen in a daze for a while. Lol. So glad I'm not the only one calling him out.
This particular one shot reminded me of running games of Beyond the Supernatural, a game where you are just a normal human, a 20th century human, like pizza delivery guy moonlighting against world ending horrors and supernatural elements. The largest challenge for GMing that game is setting the "horror" for the players and Liam did an excellent job in that department. By starting with the banal, the normal, and then just bringing in the eldritch nightmares. He drew them in, got them energized in this silly "normal" day to day activity for them.. the he yanks the rug out. Perfection.
It might sound weird but non Matt episodes are so great in my opinion, the Liam oneshot, The Call of Cthulhu by Tallisan is great too, candela obscura etc. I love the world he created I think he is one of the best GMs ever but damn his friends are so much more fun to watch
Naturally when you mix it up after having the same guy for years it does feel fresh. I like Matt as well but I would like a change of DMs for the next campaign.
@@intelli-gent9863 im not sure if changing DM is a right way, I love Matt as a player as he was playing GREAT in dimension 20 but I think , big part of CR's charm is the Matt. I think Anyone else would be fun but making long lasting campaigns like they did before would be a shot to the foot
I dearly love Liam's DMing style; it's much more fluid than Matt's tends to be (not a criticism of either). Since "Calamity" isn't a true one-shot (IMO), my favorite would be the one where Liam is DMing the rest of the cast as child versions of themselves: ruclips.net/video/LHita2t54xY/видео.htmlsi=YeeLZkusAR8Toqbp Then followed closely by "The Nightmare Before Critmas".
not all caduceuses have wings, the caduceus of hermese has 2 snakes around a winged rod, but not the caduceus of asclepus, greek god of healing, which only has 1 snake around a wingless rod. a lot of people misuse the caduceus of hermes as a symbol for medicine, but he's more of a god of trade and comerse, which i guess in americas for-profit medical system makes sense, but still
This is probably the most I've seen of any Critical Role session. Seems pretty cool. I love how they're helping each other improv little character moments and such.
I'm glad for this episode. :) I've seen bits of this one-shot in compilations now and then and never quite got what was going on. But after getting walked through, it was clearly a really good game!
"It's gold... Looking?" is delicious narration. My main takeaway from this is that Liam narrates D&D how I wish I wrote a lot of the time (not one to one, obviously - I usually use third person subjective - but that very personal, fully inside the character's head, revealing information as the character processes it rather than encounters it "He saw what looked like some kind of mammal... Maybe a dog?" _thing_ that Liam does so effortlessly here is something I often attempt to do and wish I was better at.) (However - And clearly this worked for this group so I'm not saying Liam did anything wrong here - Surprise horror tends to be... Risky... and horror where you play yourself and NPCs that die are people you know - even including the GM - is... Triggering for a lot of people for very understandable reasons. This is the sort of session that if you want to run yourself, I would be advocating for using safety tools even more so than I usually am. It's just doing a lot of things that can go very wrong very easily unless it's an established group who already trust each other and already have a bunch of safety tools in place.)
It is my goal in life to see critical role do some sort of weird Ergo Proxy reunion/one shot. Think about it: Taliesin running the game (he wrote the series adaptation), Liam, Sam and Travis reprising their rolls as Vincent, Pull, and Iggy, I think Laura would be a great Pino, Ashley as Re-L, or even bring in the original VAs to reprise their roles! Its weird, and niche, and I need it in my life.
Even though it’s essentially the Star Trek II line the sequel line “I have and will always be your friend.” Gets me every time 😢 Liam should have Games their Call of Cthulhu one shot!
I actually enjoy Brennan Lee Mulligan GM style, he is so very lively and so talented in his role playing and energy. Matt is amazing for sure and Liam seems cool. However if I were able to choose 1 person to DM a game I am playing I would go with Brennan Lee Mulligan.
This is a good example of what I _love_ about modern-day setting games (and specifically not D&D) is that first off, you can just do more interesting stuff than you typically have to fall back on for a standard D&D fantasy game. And second, a lot of it requires only light touches of explanation because we all know the modern world we live in. So you can then instead put the energy that'd be wasted on _that_ stuff toward making a good story and getting near-immediate buy-in from players. I've never been super into CR ... but this one is a game I could totally get into. Especially since it's not a dozen people.
Ever since I saw this episode, I've been low-key hoping for them to do a full campaign with Liam in the DM chair and Matt as a player. Liam's one-shots are all so good, I'd love to see what he can do with a longer form story. And Matt as a player is always fun to watch, as EXU and his appearances on Dimension20 have shown. Maybe it'll happen with Campaign 4!
Watched this and then chose to watch the Daggerheart Session 0 and Liam is literally wearing the shirt he described in the one shot 😂😂😂 the odds of this was never zero but it definitely wasn’t high. Great stuff.
Have you seen Liam run the new Candela Obsucra campaign? I feel like I can't really say much more then that without being to spoilery so watch it if you haven't
Great commentary on a terrific walk down memory lane. Liam’s love letters are wonderful. That’s what our home game table is like too - no matter who DM’s.
I have not watched Critical Role. I have watched thousands of hours of D&D videos on youtube. This is the first video to make it to my "favorites." Great work.
It helps that Liam Obrien was the voice of Lloyd Asplund from Code Geass in the english dub. Could you imagine Lloyd Asplund as DM? I want the animation studio to do a little skit of just Lloyd DMing a TTRPG game.
Re: Mercer Effect - more often than not i've seen it used as a means to browbeat DM's into getting their own way, instead of as a barometer for game 'quality' or tone
I'm not even halfway done with the video and you have convinced me to go watch the oneshot before I continue. I think I'll have a lot of fun and I don't want to get spoiled 😂 I'll be back to finish the video after watching it =)
I'm back! =) I watched the oneshot and the rest of your video. I think I'll also grab some tips from Liam, he did a great job! And I'm happy I decided to watch the entire thing first because the twists when the supernatural part begun were amazing!
I played in a modern-day paranormal investigation game something like the X-Files, and at the first session, the GM had us set our character sheets aside. He said we would instead be playing as younger versions of ourselves: a group of teenagers hanging out on a hill overlooking the town. We started to hear strange noises, when try to leave, we discover that the car won't start properly. When one of us looked under the car, they see damage to the undercarriage. As they try to get a better look with a flashlight, a large clawed hand reaches out and pulls them under the car. Then another of us is grabbed and pulled under. The remaining two somehow get the car moving, but unfortunately, it starts rolling down the hill and the brakes fail. They crash into a tree and as the scene fades, the claws start ripping through the doors. Then we switched to our created characters who are investigating a case in which four teens were killed in bizarre circumstances. The local police said it was a car accident followed by animal scavenging, but the details don't make sense...
I think a bit of an intro rush helps with one shots as you want to get through all your story beats, it’s where I tend to have more plot direction than a fully developed game. Also I watch on 1.5x so you’re not talking too fast for me 😁
My only issue with Liam's One-Shots is that they're effectively walking simulators. He has a bunch of weird scary visuals for everybody to see and there isn't much influence the players have on what they will do and how things will turn out. Arguably this is an issue with any horror setting that the players aren't strong enough to fight out of or don't have unique skills to circumvent. Don't get me wrong, his descriptions are fantastic, and everyone had fun because they were playing themselves, (and I love the heartfelt moment in the "I was richer for having known you" one-shot), but there isn't much player agency/involvement here after the opening improv scene.
So was I the only one that thought Liam was doing a fakeout when he introduced Conan? Because he described a familiar figure with long red hair, so I thought (and later assumed the audience and players were intended to think) that the BBEG was going to be Marisha and then instead we go a bit silly and it's Conan O'Brien for no real reason.
No! He was doing a fake out and it was brilliant! He picked his words very carefully, he doesn't say "long red hair" he says "red hair straggling behind it" we think "long" but it doesn't need to be that long to straggling behind you in the wind, when he says "thin"... well both Conan and Marisha are that, and then "towering frame" which Marisha is not, but the figure is up in the air "towering" over them, so they don't associate that word with the quite considerable height of Conan. The reactions of everyone (crew included) when he reveals it is Conan instead of Marisha always cracks me up. But also, by introducing Conan this way they didn't expect Marisha to enter the game later on. It was brilliant!
Liam didn't necessarily stick the landing, but that happens sometimes. It was definitely a great adventure, regardless. I think that's a lesson in and of itself.
a DM is like a movie director or a painting... Each bring messages, colors and rhythm...... They are all different and we cannot say one is the best...
What is your favorite Critical Role one-shot?
The Forbidden Wendy's One
The first Chritmas episode. It gave us the fantastic Chutney....
I’ve gotta go with the Darrington Brigade.
so many one shots hit hard for me. the tears of the kingdom one shot was fantastic but both of liam’s one shots were so good; specifically the second one. i think about “i’m richer for having known you” at least once a week
Song of the Loreleis
It’s honestly not a big surprise that Liam is a natural DM, he plays like a DM. I don’t know how to really articulate it, but the way he describes actions when he plays, how he uses his characters to nudge the story in directions but not in a generally obnoxious way? He just comes off as a DM. It’s just vibes.
His beautiful descriptions in C3 have made the little fighter Orym outshine all of the wacky, home-brewed characters/classes imho.
I feel like C2 really made me fall in love with Liam as an actor. In my highly subjective opinion, I feel like most of the players fell into the Jester trap - a character trait becoming so defining that it consumes or overshadows their growth or development. In some cases, regression. Fjord became bumbling without rebuilding his confidence, Beau leaned into disaster lesbian and arrogant leader, Veth/Nott seemed to often forget they had a family at all in many instances, and Yasha struggled to catch up with character development due to other obligations. Caleb, on the other hand, slowly seems to overcome his terror and anxiety, finding a purpose beyond helping Nott and growing beyond her care, never giving into the lure of joining the others in being comedic outside of what would be appropriate for his character.
C2 Calib's tower... Again a love letter to his fellow players... Matt dnt have to DM much that game cas liam painted a picture with his words Sooooo well
Natural GM? Is this is first time GMing, ever, in his life? Or just his first time GMing on Critical Role?
@gmjeremy3627 as far as I'm aware it was his first time ever but it's possible I'm mistaken
I think Liam regularly running a home game for his little daughter and her friends prepared him for running games for CR.
Has he started doing that at the time the video first aired?
@@cjtrules1 pretty sure he's been doing it for years, since it was mentioned during campaign 1
@@SaraL22 Which is why I asked if he was doing it when that interview first happened. I don't know if he said exactly when he started playing with his kids.
If Matt’s DMing style is a book, Liam’s is a rollercoaster.
I can actually extend this, too:
Aabria’s style is a movie, and Brennan’s is a cartoon (even in his serious moments - everything is just turned up to 11)
This is a great breakdown
Even his Calamity game had Cyberpunk: Edgerunners vibe. A bunch of wacky, lovable characters who are in a situation they won’t survive…
One other thing that is worth mentioning, all the DMs are great, and who is the best really depends on ones own preference of style.
Aabrias style is not a movie, it's a self biography with directors commentary
Calamity was ABSOLUTELY a freaking grimdark Scooby Doo
Liam talks about the yellow fabric of his shirt multiple times, he's running an eldritch/cosmic horror one-shot- SURELY he's giving a subtle/unsubtle nod to the King In Yellow
Plus it’s a great reference for a story about reality and fiction warping together, which this game is.
Tell me friend, have you seen the Yellow Sign?
The Man in Black Fled Across the Desert And The Gunslinger Followed.
i am truly feeling sam on the shock and disappointment of getting unexpected white chocolate
Real talk
It's worse than that: Big Hunk is like nougat or taffy, it's not even chocolate.
I'm surprised that clip hasn't become a meme template, honestly.
OHHHHH SURPRISE! Liams one shots are crazy. The meta-fictional episodes are inspirational
I truly and honestly believe Liam O'Brien is one of the best DnD players in the world ever
Agreed. Watching the way he played Caleb in CR 2 not only for roleplay but also gameplay will always be some of my favorite and most inspiring CR moments.
What would become the Vox Machina campaign started as a birthday present for him, so he's kind of the catalyst for all of Critical Role.
@@BigKlingy it's like a gift to us all. And I don't think he would want it any other way. He got a gift and he just wanted to pass it on, he's always been that person to give what was given. He's just a wonderful person to everyone. They all are honestly.
Not to stir something up, but he isnt even the best player at his regular table. IMO he's usually the annoying player at their table. I feel the most unjustified thing is, that marisha got shit in c1 and liam didnt (at least it felt that way to someone who got into crit in c2).
Travis is the other one
I love that crazy, manic, run-on (or almost run-on) sentence style of horror narration, and Liam pulled it off in a way that puts the best Lovecraft audiobook readers to shame.
34:55
"is he drowning?"
*person who knows* "I don't know"
I love saying that to my players.
31:16 I love how Laura and Taliesin are like super in character, like they can see it happening in front of their eyes and they could be crushed at any moment. And then Sam and Travis are the exact opposite, like they are absolutely thrilled to be here today listening to this story unfold. It's so cute. I miss the old days of CR and the gang.
I don’t know if you saw the one-shot they did for the Daggerheart beta, but it was easily the most C1-feeling CR content since, well, C1.
My favorite one shot is the nightmare before Critmas.
To the point where instead of Elf on the Shelf my sons have Chutney. Hes retired from shelf duty and guarantees a cheap wood toy every year
Never plan on having kids but if I did I would 100% be using this
@@casolockthat's...really sad
@@mutedimagination666 I understand it can be seen as that way for other people and that becoming a parent is one of the greatest and selfless goals in life a person can have but it's not something fits for me and my life. The idea of using chutney as a replacement of an elf on the shelf is amazing and I still might borrow that idea for my nieces and nephews when they visit during the holidays.
@@casolock honestly that's fair my ex had the same view it hurt that she didn't want kids at all but I know there's people like that out there at least you're upfront and honest about it
"Taliesin, you've been at home, writing an unreleated project/"
*defeated sigh* "uuuuuugh, why would I do that?"
The most Taliesin response! XD
I've only seen clips of this one-shot! I'm so glad you're covering it!!!
It’s still online, just unlisted. If you look up Liam’s quest you should be able to find it
This and the one-shot that Ashley ran are absolute gems!
Poor gal was such a bundle of nerves, but, she did a really good job.
Johnson Corp was amazing!
Grog running Bunyons and Flagons is my favorite one shot!
Travis Willingham is a comedy genius.
I didn't realize while watching the one-shot how fantastically Liam controls the pace! Gotta take notes with this one, thank you Mike!
I have never watched this episode personally, but hearing Liam DM like this (and the theme of the oneshot itself) reminds me a lot of the podcast Welcome to Nightvale. If you haven’t seen it I would recommend it, I’ve gotten a lot of good ideas from it for roleplaying.
I had always thought that this episode was Liam ripping on all the people that said everything that happened on Critical Role was scripted. Also, I low key wonder if this is how they really act when on set or in the sound booth lol.
Thirdly, for whatever reason, when Liam said, "you see the water ripple" my mind instantly went, "oh shit, the Rex is loose!" Only to remind myself that they're on the Warner Bros lot and Rexy is by Universal 🤣
I think they said after the game that they were playing things up a bit in the sound booth scene, for the benefit of the audience. I'm pretty sure the vocal warm up was heightened for comedy, based on Laura and Liam's reactions lol
SAME! I thought a T-Rex would come running in lol!
😂
The current Candela Obscura chapter with Liam at the wheel is being amazing.
Travis' One-Shot as Grog running a game was really meta and brilliant. And I love it so much!
Reminds me of Tiny Tina.
27:12 That was a really good Matt impression 😂
Thank you! I watch a lot of Matt Mercer episodes so I would hope some of it had rubbed off by now lol
His Persona one shot was the first time I ever saw him GM. He's got such a chill personality when it comes to setting up the story and giving players a chance to ease into the story. He's supportive and collaborative. I love it.
"At a convention in Australia?" The date of this episode is about exactly when I got into Critical Role, so I probably JUST missed them! Noooooo..... (did get to meet Travis and Laura in 2017 though)
The whole "shorthand" thing with the intro reminds me of one of my favourite advantages of "urban fantasy" as a genre: you don't need much exposition. Being set in "the real world" means you don't have to explain magi-babble, elaborate creation myths, war backstories, worldbuilding, "you're on your way to school/work and then weird things happen" is enough of an intro.
The layers of meta on that "[Liam]'s smiling, but he looks a little tense"...
I agree on Liam's "conversational style", and I think the "this looks like... [insert descriptive word here]. No not really, more like..." style works well for horror. Not knowing how to describe what you're looking at is often a cornerstone of the genre.
One thing not mentioned here is Liam narrating Taliesin's kill as "In what manner do you wish to kill this?"
Also, Travis "revealed" at the end of the session that he had a note on his character sheet that said: "Kill Sam". The other players, and the audience, aren't sure whether he's joking or not. If it's true, it'd explain the PVP.
You've absolutely nailed why Liam is so great in general. I put off watching CR for the longest time as the appearances I had seen of them in other campaigns gave an impression of people who take themselves too seriously or are just too exuberant or full on. So I decided to start from the very beginning, before they were huge. My favourite players are the ones that don't so much get invited to guest in other big campaigns.
Liam is effortless and Laura is pure gold...you sum up why perfectly in this video.
I love it when Liam GMs. I'm looking forward to watching his Candela Obscura games.
I loved his elder scrols thing too!
I remember going through the Liam one shots after catching up on the VM campaign. Initially I was kinda rolling my eyes at the metaness of Liam's games but he won me over pretty quick. I still like to do the speak n spell voice every now and then
Thank you so much for covering this one! It had such a big impact on my DMing too. First game I ever ran was for my wife, my sister, and her boyfriend. I had them wake up as themselves in my parents house with me and my parents missing, and just gave them a chance to explore (with some goodies hidden around the place). All the windows were black and the TV was staticky. On the kitchen table were three “class” items, a baseball bat, a rosary, and a pack of magic cards, and the back door was open, but just to blackness. A note from me on the table told them that I had gone ahead and to choose an item and follow me. It was probably one of the best games I’ve run, everyone had a blast. Real case of beginners luck!
Another excellent video! Liam's first one-shots made me want to play a meta-game where we all play ourselves, which I still have never gotten the chance for unfortunately.
I don't know if it's my favorite, but I liked Talisen's one-shot where they all played themselves as vampires. And Liam's second one-shot was just a riot, the first few minutes of the cast just trying to deal with being kids was just hilarious
Warner Brothers would have a portal to the abyss.
Lol Taliesin's comment, "Why would there be gold here? This is the worst place to put money" is such a cold-blooded dig at WB 😂
This is literally one of my favorite episodes of CR ever. Great choice and great breakdown. So awesome!
Yes!! I've been waiting for you to cover Liam's one shots!
Agreed, we need to see more DMing from him. If you haven't seen it yet, the latest Candella Obscura with him in the GM chair is amazing also.
I love that Taliesin saying "I'm Periscoping this whole thing" reminded me that Periscope was a thing that existed!
I didn't really pay attention to the differences in DMing styles, but now that you mention it, I think I DM naturally leaning more towards Liam's style. It gives me a lot of more room to adjust to players derailing what I have planned. It also helps me keep the expectations grounded, in a more casual environment, which helps me as well to stay relaxed and to worry less if a word doesn't come to mind, because I can figure it out mid-sentence, and that aids in immersive the players as they are trying to understand what's going on as well.
I always wanted Liam to dm a whole campaign. Give Matt that extra long break. Give us all something fresh
14:28 I agree the "you find yourself in a tavern" and "what would your character be doing on a typical morning?" openings, while iconic, end up leaving things a little open ended, and don't really serve anything up for your players to latch on to. Even something like "It's morning, and you're healed up, but still a little sore from that barfight last night. You feel a little more bruises than you can remember taking, and you're not certain whether you won or lost, or how you got to your bed." gives much a more dynamic piece for someone to "yes, and" from.
If I were to try and summarize my point, for your character to feel like they exist in the world, they need to know what happened yesterday, and how that's going to set up their actions today.
That's a very good way of putting it!
You should leave things open-ended or the players really wouldn't know what to do or say. You shouldn't just introduce some characters in a bar and leave it up to them to take it further. You should give them something else to go off of, "You just finished a quest....", or your other example. The problem isn't about leaving things open-ended instead, it's not giving your players anything else to go off of.
From memory, this is Liams first time DMing. I'd be nervous being DM for the first time livestreaming on the internet to whatever the CR audience is by this point.
My favorite one-shot involves the *attempted* (and successful?) murder of trinket.
The cast broke down so hard XD
My favorite one shot is for sure Liam's Quest in which all of the players play themselves- the ending is heart wrenching and so sweet
"Liam, let no one tell you you're talented or special"
"P**SY POCKETS"
Honestly, I fucking love Liam as a player. He carried C2 on his back. Caleb was a fantastic character and the fact that he was a utility wizard gave Liam so many tools to make cool shit. In C3, he's playing a super standard and usually boring class, and a character that doesn't have that much of a dramatic history or personality (all tragedy aside) and he STILL outshines everyone else. He should write a book or something
Liam saved my life, no joke, no lie, Vax saved me from dark times, AND all his one shots were SO good, literally his way of telling his friends how much he loves them, that last of the one shots when they were ALL there(robot liam) speech was a cryfest, would love you covering grogs one shot. i hope you cover all his one shots since it was technically all sequels XD
I love that Grog's one shot featured Travis' and Laura's campaign 2 characters and they had a little baby with them. This is before their pregnancy or C2 characters were announced.
Thanks for another great video Mike! Haven’t seen this one shot before but between the clips and your breakdown I’ll check it out! Very soon! 🤩
Seeing you brekaing down Travis' GM as Grog would be a fun watch. Even if you know very little about VM. But it became a lot better and funnier if you are a CR fan. I was extra impressed once I heard that Travis was running the game for level 20 characters.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who loved Liam's Quest, it's a real hidden gem at this point
This was a fun look back on this one-shot. Looking forward to more!
Can't agree more on the narration style when describing the SHTF-moment. It feels like a friend telling you something they saw or are seeing instead of "oooh spooky narration"
You already know the man who voices Tenma from Monster was destined to be a great horror DM!
glad to catch this one early, love your stuff!
Just watched the one shot Liam did such a great job! Being a new GM especially when its Matt's shoes your filling in for is no small thing and Liam handled it super well. I love how the players recognized this as well especially Travis, he drops some hints to Liam that he hasnt actually had them roll any dice for quite a well but it isnt at all mean about it.
Liam is a fantastic game master, The Night Before Critmas is still among my absolute favourite things Critical Role ever released.
This is my favourite oneshot / episode of Critical role. Glad to see it covered
I just finished the first episode of Candela Obscura chapter 4. Liam killed it. I was very impressed. I think I sat watching my screen in a daze for a while. Lol. So glad I'm not the only one calling him out.
This particular one shot reminded me of running games of Beyond the Supernatural, a game where you are just a normal human, a 20th century human, like pizza delivery guy moonlighting against world ending horrors and supernatural elements. The largest challenge for GMing that game is setting the "horror" for the players and Liam did an excellent job in that department. By starting with the banal, the normal, and then just bringing in the eldritch nightmares. He drew them in, got them energized in this silly "normal" day to day activity for them.. the he yanks the rug out. Perfection.
When he describes the Cthulu monster his narration sounds just Like Harlen Elison’s description of AM in “I have no Mouth” meets lovecraft
It might sound weird but non Matt episodes are so great in my opinion, the Liam oneshot, The Call of Cthulhu by Tallisan is great too, candela obscura etc. I love the world he created I think he is one of the best GMs ever but damn his friends are so much more fun to watch
Naturally when you mix it up after having the same guy for years it does feel fresh. I like Matt as well but I would like a change of DMs for the next campaign.
@@intelli-gent9863 im not sure if changing DM is a right way, I love Matt as a player as he was playing GREAT in dimension 20 but I think , big part of CR's charm is the Matt. I think Anyone else would be fun but making long lasting campaigns like they did before would be a shot to the foot
I dearly love Liam's DMing style; it's much more fluid than Matt's tends to be (not a criticism of either).
Since "Calamity" isn't a true one-shot (IMO), my favorite would be the one where Liam is DMing the rest of the cast as child versions of themselves: ruclips.net/video/LHita2t54xY/видео.htmlsi=YeeLZkusAR8Toqbp
Then followed closely by "The Nightmare Before Critmas".
not all caduceuses have wings, the caduceus of hermese has 2 snakes around a winged rod, but not the caduceus of asclepus, greek god of healing, which only has 1 snake around a wingless rod. a lot of people misuse the caduceus of hermes as a symbol for medicine, but he's more of a god of trade and comerse, which i guess in americas for-profit medical system makes sense, but still
This is probably the most I've seen of any Critical Role session. Seems pretty cool. I love how they're helping each other improv little character moments and such.
I'm glad for this episode. :) I've seen bits of this one-shot in compilations now and then and never quite got what was going on. But after getting walked through, it was clearly a really good game!
"It's gold... Looking?" is delicious narration.
My main takeaway from this is that Liam narrates D&D how I wish I wrote a lot of the time (not one to one, obviously - I usually use third person subjective - but that very personal, fully inside the character's head, revealing information as the character processes it rather than encounters it "He saw what looked like some kind of mammal... Maybe a dog?" _thing_ that Liam does so effortlessly here is something I often attempt to do and wish I was better at.)
(However - And clearly this worked for this group so I'm not saying Liam did anything wrong here - Surprise horror tends to be... Risky... and horror where you play yourself and NPCs that die are people you know - even including the GM - is... Triggering for a lot of people for very understandable reasons. This is the sort of session that if you want to run yourself, I would be advocating for using safety tools even more so than I usually am. It's just doing a lot of things that can go very wrong very easily unless it's an established group who already trust each other and already have a bunch of safety tools in place.)
I think everyone knows that Grog is the best DM but it’s just we haven’t gotten to his episode yet
It is my goal in life to see critical role do some sort of weird Ergo Proxy reunion/one shot.
Think about it: Taliesin running the game (he wrote the series adaptation), Liam, Sam and Travis reprising their rolls as Vincent, Pull, and Iggy, I think Laura would be a great Pino, Ashley as Re-L, or even bring in the original VAs to reprise their roles! Its weird, and niche, and I need it in my life.
So glad people finally talk about this amazing gem of an episode. Incredible from start to finish.
I remember this episode. The transition from life to horror was so surreal.
it's not in the Geek and Sundry list bit it is in the Critical Role One-Shots list
Oh yeah?
Even though it’s essentially the Star Trek II line the sequel line “I have and will always be your friend.” Gets me every time 😢 Liam should have Games their Call of Cthulhu one shot!
This is my favorite one-shot of theirs, I am glad you discussed it
I actually enjoy Brennan Lee Mulligan GM style, he is so very lively and so talented in his role playing and energy. Matt is amazing for sure and Liam seems cool. However if I were able to choose 1 person to DM a game I am playing I would go with Brennan Lee Mulligan.
This is a good example of what I _love_ about modern-day setting games (and specifically not D&D) is that first off, you can just do more interesting stuff than you typically have to fall back on for a standard D&D fantasy game. And second, a lot of it requires only light touches of explanation because we all know the modern world we live in. So you can then instead put the energy that'd be wasted on _that_ stuff toward making a good story and getting near-immediate buy-in from players.
I've never been super into CR ... but this one is a game I could totally get into. Especially since it's not a dozen people.
Thank you for providing the link! I heard such good things about it but missed it on my completed watch through of Campaign 1's playlist!
I absolutely love this one shot! It’s time for a rewatch!
This video inspired me to watch the first episode of critical role I’ve ever seen… Completely agree Liam did a fantastic job!
Your timing with this is great! I just watched it a couple weeks ago and was blown away! It's one of my favorite CR episodes!
Ever since I saw this episode, I've been low-key hoping for them to do a full campaign with Liam in the DM chair and Matt as a player. Liam's one-shots are all so good, I'd love to see what he can do with a longer form story. And Matt as a player is always fun to watch, as EXU and his appearances on Dimension20 have shown. Maybe it'll happen with Campaign 4!
Watched this and then chose to watch the Daggerheart Session 0 and Liam is literally wearing the shirt he described in the one shot 😂😂😂 the odds of this was never zero but it definitely wasn’t high. Great stuff.
Everybody brings something different to DMing. I love it when we can finally break the seal and rotate instead of having forever DMs.
Have you seen Liam run the new Candela Obsucra campaign? I feel like I can't really say much more then that without being to spoilery so watch it if you haven't
Great commentary on a terrific walk down memory lane. Liam’s love letters are wonderful. That’s what our home game table is like too - no matter who DM’s.
I have not watched Critical Role. I have watched thousands of hours of D&D videos on youtube. This is the first video to make it to my "favorites." Great work.
It helps that Liam Obrien was the voice of Lloyd Asplund from Code Geass in the english dub. Could you imagine Lloyd Asplund as DM? I want the animation studio to do a little skit of just Lloyd DMing a TTRPG game.
Yay! I love bonus episodes!
Re: Mercer Effect - more often than not i've seen it used as a means to browbeat DM's into getting their own way, instead of as a barometer for game 'quality' or tone
They UNLISTED IT??!! It’s a live ttrpg classic.
Felgaurd 3 is just Liam’s alt universe BG3
This was brilliant!!
Thank you for ahining light on this!!
the most valuable lesson here is that the apocalypse will begin in WB Studios
Liam's one shot "Call of the Lorelei" is probably my favorite one shot.
I'm not even halfway done with the video and you have convinced me to go watch the oneshot before I continue. I think I'll have a lot of fun and I don't want to get spoiled 😂
I'll be back to finish the video after watching it =)
I'm back! =)
I watched the oneshot and the rest of your video. I think I'll also grab some tips from Liam, he did a great job! And I'm happy I decided to watch the entire thing first because the twists when the supernatural part begun were amazing!
I played in a modern-day paranormal investigation game something like the X-Files, and at the first session, the GM had us set our character sheets aside. He said we would instead be playing as younger versions of ourselves: a group of teenagers hanging out on a hill overlooking the town.
We started to hear strange noises, when try to leave, we discover that the car won't start properly. When one of us looked under the car, they see damage to the undercarriage. As they try to get a better look with a flashlight, a large clawed hand reaches out and pulls them under the car. Then another of us is grabbed and pulled under. The remaining two somehow get the car moving, but unfortunately, it starts rolling down the hill and the brakes fail. They crash into a tree and as the scene fades, the claws start ripping through the doors.
Then we switched to our created characters who are investigating a case in which four teens were killed in bizarre circumstances. The local police said it was a car accident followed by animal scavenging, but the details don't make sense...
I think a bit of an intro rush helps with one shots as you want to get through all your story beats, it’s where I tend to have more plot direction than a fully developed game.
Also I watch on 1.5x so you’re not talking too fast for me 😁
for real. I watch nearly everything on 2x. I can't imagine thinking he talks too fast.
My only issue with Liam's One-Shots is that they're effectively walking simulators. He has a bunch of weird scary visuals for everybody to see and there isn't much influence the players have on what they will do and how things will turn out. Arguably this is an issue with any horror setting that the players aren't strong enough to fight out of or don't have unique skills to circumvent. Don't get me wrong, his descriptions are fantastic, and everyone had fun because they were playing themselves, (and I love the heartfelt moment in the "I was richer for having known you" one-shot), but there isn't much player agency/involvement here after the opening improv scene.
Intriguing and fair assessment 🤔
So was I the only one that thought Liam was doing a fakeout when he introduced Conan? Because he described a familiar figure with long red hair, so I thought (and later assumed the audience and players were intended to think) that the BBEG was going to be Marisha and then instead we go a bit silly and it's Conan O'Brien for no real reason.
No! He was doing a fake out and it was brilliant! He picked his words very carefully, he doesn't say "long red hair" he says "red hair straggling behind it" we think "long" but it doesn't need to be that long to straggling behind you in the wind, when he says "thin"... well both Conan and Marisha are that, and then "towering frame" which Marisha is not, but the figure is up in the air "towering" over them, so they don't associate that word with the quite considerable height of Conan. The reactions of everyone (crew included) when he reveals it is Conan instead of Marisha always cracks me up. But also, by introducing Conan this way they didn't expect Marisha to enter the game later on.
It was brilliant!
It's not a matter of who is a better DM. It's all about style. They're both really good.
I really like this new camera angle / framing !
Thanks for another great video and insights!
This is brilliant. Thank you for doing this review... Now I'm going to go watch the episode! Kinda wish I had been watching Critical Role all along!
Liam didn't necessarily stick the landing, but that happens sometimes. It was definitely a great adventure, regardless. I think that's a lesson in and of itself.
Never saw this, now I have to go watch this! Thank you for posting!!
He ate and left no crumbs. This was an artful and moving display of pure talent and creativity.
So Liam ran a Dark Tower one shot? All things really do serve the beam.
a DM is like a movie director or a painting... Each bring messages, colors and rhythm...... They are all different and we cannot say one is the best...