Critical Role’s “Mercer Effect” Explained (& How It Hurts D&D)

Known colloquially as the “Mercer Effect,” the phenomenon harming a lot of Dungeons and Dragons parties gets its name from famed Dungeon Master and voice actor Matthew Mercer. Mercer runs games for the show Critical Role, where he and the rest of the cast play Dungeons and Dragons for live audiences.

Critical Role has seen a lot of success since its start a little over five years ago. The D&D show averages near 40,000 views a stream, broke Kickstarter records by raising over $11.3 million, and now has an animated series set to air on Prime Video based on their first campaign. They even just announced their own non-profit organization, with cast member Ashley Johnson named as its president.

But all of this success is not without consequence, as the “Mercer Effect” is something affecting many DMs and parties in the D&D community. The effect in question is what happens when fans of Critical Role decide to try and play Dungeons and Dragons after learning from the show’s example. Because the new players are only familiar with the tabletop RPG at the peak level of entertainment Critical Role offers, some expect for their experience to mirror the show’s quality. It’s become such a problem that Mercer himself has addressed it.

How Critical Role’s Dungeons & Dragons Streams Affect The D&D Community

After finding out that most games out there use graph paper and markers for maps instead of 3D terrains, and that their Dungeon Master and party do not meet the level of talent of a dedicated group of professionals, new players tend to leave their games disappointed. The high-quality of Critical Role is giving fans new to the TTRPG Community unrealistic expectations when it comes to the average game of Dungeons and Dragons.

The solution to the “Mercer Effect” has to come from both sides. On the players’ side, comparing a D&D home game to an episode of Critical Role is like comparing hanging out with friends to the show Friends. It’s not a fair expectation to put the pressures of the level of quality the Critical Role cast and Mercer perform at on that of everyone else who plays the game as a hobby.

On the game masters’ side, all that’s needed is an abundant amount of patience (no, seriously). Simply explaining that Critical Role (especially at the level it’s at now) is not a fair representation of how Dungeons and Dragons is actually played is the move to make. If the new players sat at the table (or, more likely, on the other end of a Discord call) can’t understand that, then it’s not on the game’s DM to try and conform to their expectations. Originality and entertainment is what Dungeons and Dragons is all about, and every campaign out there is going to be a different experience.

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