The Secret Behind Critical Role's Success and the Failure to Imitate It
I've been investing more time in TRPGs (I currently run two D&D campaigns), and that's brought to mind a question: why does Critical Role utterly dominate the D&D streaming scene? It absorbs so much of the space that you can find multiple videos discussing 'the Matt Mercer effect' on the game ( cf ), which is really more of a 'Critical Role' effect. It's extremely rare for one show to cast its shadow over an entire community, particularly over such a sustained period of time. Critical Role debuted back in March, 2015, and the group not only earns the largest payouts from Twitch ( cf ), but no other streamed D&D campaign comes anywhere near its viewership--why is that? It's a question no one that I can find has seriously explored. Let me add: my exploration isn't about value judgements --whether you love, hate, or are indifferent to Critical Role (or any of the other streamer referenced here), it's not about what is good or bad, bu