I’ve made no secret of the inspiration and enjoyment I get from being a fan of Critical Role, the D&D live-play stream that has taken the TTRPG world by storm. Now in its third season, the show’s creators unveiled the much-anticipated animated series on Amazon Prime, The Legend of Vox Machina, dramatizing (or comedyizing?) some of the adventures in their first season.
I have made the case on many episodes that the live-play streams available on platforms like YouTube and Twitch are a useful tool in any DM’s toolbox, allowing you to see multiple styles of DMs running games as well as multiple styles of players. It is not a stretch to say that the Critical Role group looms largest over this medium.
There are things to learn about ways to improve our games from these types of creators. I thought it would be fun to share some tips that I think would benefit all of our games – made way more digestible in a thirty-minute format, as opposed to a four-hour stream – as the series has done an excellent job of capturing the essence of playing D&D, right down to the extreme violence and dick jokes.
Be advised that the remainder of the article will include spoilers for episode one.
1. Episodes
DM Tony and I are of one mind on this subject and craft our sessions with this first tip in mind: A session of gameplay should be able to be summarized in a 30-minute episode.
Watching the first episode of The Legend of Vox Machina revealed that the creators were of a similar mindset. The initial episode, “The Terror of Tal’Dorei – Part One,” feels just like an initial session of D&D. There’s the introduction of the world that sets the tone for the adventure followed by the inciting incident – deadly attacks in Tal’Dorei that have left all known and respected adventuring parties dead. As a side note, this was shown hilariously well in the beginning when an incredibly serious, seasoned and badass adventuring party gets TPK’d in most epic fashion.
What follows is the requisite introduction of the party in the tropiest of D&D tropes: A tavern. We meet the characters who will be joining the adventure. This is a great time to allow some roleplay to let the players begin to feel out their characters. We see this in the episode through the drinking game being played by “the greatest mercenaries in all the land”: Vox Machina.
What follows is a great tip to keep the energy up at your table: Introduce conflict as soon as possible. As soon as we meet Vox Machina, they become involved in a bar fight. Players love rolling dice, so let them. This is followed by DM Thorin’s advice: If you want the characters to follow the trail of the adventure, pay them. After being tossed out of the tavern, they find the notices posted throughout town offering a reward for the killing of the mysterious beast.
This is followed by the meat of your session: The adventure. Vox Machina travels to the Shalesteps where the beast is said to be attacking and come upon their adversary: A massive blue dragon. This is followed by two excellent tips for increasing the tension in your games: Boundary encounters and deeper adventure hooks to draw the characters (and players) further into the adventure and the world. We discuss boundary encounters in many episodes as a way to create deeper player buy-in to get revenge for being decimated by the BBEG early on in the game. We would refer you to the now-infamous “Redcap Incident” in our Woodstock Wanderer’s campaign as well as the Curse of Strahd group’s initial encounter with the vampire lord himself. Spoilers: Neither of these encounters went well for the party.
All of this in 24 minutes. More than enough material to bring your players (or viewers in this case) back to the table to see what happens in episode two. Ask yourself the question: Could you describe your session to fit in an exciting 30-minute episode? The closer you get to answering yes, the more of the appropriate beats you’ll be hitting and the more impetus your players will have to continue onto the next, and the next, and the next.
2. Tie Your Characters In
As I alluded to, an excellent tip that the first episode imparts is how to draw your players deeper into the adventure and the world. The first episode brings Vox Machina to the small village of the Shalesteps where they make some connections with the villagers, especially a young boy.
Following their defeat at the hands of the blue dragon, Vox Machina reveals some of the characters’ backstories that tie them into the adventure – specifically, the destruction of the elven twins’, Vex and Vax, home by a dragon. Returning to the Shalesteps, Vox Machina is met with the dragon’s destruction of the village and the massacre of its inhabitants.
The death of the young boy who had made some connections with Vox Machina deepens the characters’ reasons for pursuing the dragon from merely gold to vengeance. While gold is like kindling in a fire, blazing hot and bright, its motivation within your game can easily lead to players abandoning the adventure if it becomes too deadly. (Why the fuck are we doing this again?!?) This is seen when Vox Machina argue over whether they should just quit with their lives intact. Vengeance, on the other hand, becomes like a large log in the fire: Slow to light but burning hot for hours.
As Vax’ildan replies to his sister’s (Vex’ahlia) statement, “we’re all going to die truly horrible deaths”: “Perhaps, sister. But we’ll die gloriously, and we’ll kill a fucking dragon.”
Now, THAT is what I call player buy-in!
As we have mentioned previously, using the information that your players have brought to you in the form of their backstories is one of the easiest ways to increase their investment in pursuing the adventure. When people feel they have a real part in building the world and the story, they will want to continue that process and see where it takes them.
3. Be Succinct with Your Lore Dumps
In the initial 24-minute episode, the narrator (in this case, the DM) gives a broad overview of the history of the world leading up to where session one will begin. In one minute.
Some quick math reveals that just 4% of the adventure time is devoted to the initial narration and introduction to the adventure. In an average game session of four hours, that would be just under 10 minutes.
Now, I don’t recommend waxing philosophical for 10 straight minutes at the beginning of your initial session, but the tip remains the same: Make some broad swaths to introduce your players to this brand-new world they’ll be playing in. Reveal some of the general history to set some ground rules and parameters around the type of world and setting your game will take place in.
At that point, bring the players into the adventure and pepper the rest of your lore, history and worldbuilding into the adventure itself. A great way that I have found to do this is by using Mike Shea‘s concept of Secrets & Clues from his must-read book, The Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master. Help the details of your game world come alive by having the players interact with it. This follows a fundamental maxim of any good writing: Show, don’t tell.
Final Thoughts
The Legend of Vox Machina is a great show. The creators and animators have performed the difficult task of truly capturing the feel of a D&D game. All of the drama, adventure, violence, inside jokes and adolescent humor that keep us all coming back to the table year after year. If the first three episodes were any indication, they have a true blockbuster on their hands, and I thank them for it, as it only brings more people into this wonderful hobby.
Now that my fanboy gushing is over, I think the thesis of this article remains the same: There is no end to what we can learn from the stories told in books, movies television and, yes, other DMs’ games and stories. As we have found on 3 Wise DMs, where the three of us began as DMs at the beginning of our series has changed dramatically, and for the better, in the way each of us continues to evolve our styles. We have learned and continue to learn from each other.
As an old story explains: A scholar went to visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the scholar talked about Zen. The master poured the visitor’s cup to the brim, and then kept pouring. The scholar watched the overflowing cup until he could no longer restrain himself. “It’s full! No more will go in!” the scholar blurted. “This is you,” the master replied, “How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup.”
The wisest in any endeavor are those that realize that we’re always students. Keep your eyes and ears open.
Until next time, heroes … LIVE THE ADVENTURE!
great content, thanks for sharing