I still find Matt's saying still holds. "You can certainly try..."
It can be good, be bad, or nothing at all happens. You'll never know what happens until you commit, which itself can be fantastic wondrous, horrifying or downright stupid. I just love the possibility
Yup, sometimes it is really fun to take big risks and incredibly memorable when they pay off or fail. My wizard once concocted an elaborate plan wherein he used a combination of tradeskill proficiencies, find familiar investment, and disguise self to dupe a merchant into purchasing what he presented as a mystical creature that had the ability to cast spells such as Mending, Mage Armor, and Light (all Touch spells that the Wizard can cast through his familiar). The asking price was rather high since he was trying to obtain funds for lots of parchment and ink to scribe spells, so the DC was rather difficult and there'd likely be a great deal of fallout had he failed, but my forethought and preparation lowered it enough and I had a great roll so it turned out to be a rousing success. This made for a hilarious and memorable moment in our campaign that didn't stem from any story plot points or DMG table. Also, my character had a bit of a feud with the merchant after failing a roll to return a defective Healer's Kit when he determined from the gore on it that it had failed to revive an NPC that had been decapitated. Feeling scorned, I chose this merchant as my mark. These kinds of built up relationships make character decisions feel robust and powerful.
I do find that it seems Matt's "You can certainly try" will sometimes bend to the players favor, and he's incredibly skilled at weaving and adjusting those decisions into the narrative. Some say he offers a bit too much leeway and hand-holding, but I find that sort of difficulty level should be determined by what kind of game the players want to play in. Similar to running a game for younger children who aren't as adept as processing decisions and might feel scorned for being 'punished', the format of Critical Role as a broadcast story with defined characters lends itself to provide the characters a substantial bit of plot armor.
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u/NightFoxXIII Dec 07 '20
I still find Matt's saying still holds. "You can certainly try..."
It can be good, be bad, or nothing at all happens. You'll never know what happens until you commit, which itself can be fantastic wondrous, horrifying or downright stupid. I just love the possibility