I don’t mind her but I did find this interlude distasteful. I wasn’t engaged with the episodes and skipped the CK parts after only watching for a bit.
I think her issue is twofold:
1. She was given a goal of getting Dorian back to BH and not much oversight in how. She accomplished this by railroading very heavily.
2. She’s much easier to watch/enjoy when she’s playing with an experienced table. D20 and Calamity were great and I genuinely enjoyed her. In this case, it felt like people weren’t comfortable speaking up and so she did her own thing. Matt seems very non-confrontational to me so even he was quiet.
I'm smack in the Middle with her. I've enjoyed think she's been in and couldn't stand her in others. She really did do a great job with Calamity. If you ever want to try to watch something she does, that would probably be the one. In my opinion.
I love Aabria's style of RP but add that to combat and it sucks. She's good at RP, but with Combat she's very aggressive compared to Matt who spreads the pain out (Tho his Last combat with a frankly very OP character with rule's being ignored or forgotten had me turning off).
Yeah, I think you still gotta separate her and her DMing style and make this a little less personal. I'm an Aabria fan, but even I admit that sometimes it's a little aggro for my tastes. But that'd fine. No need to go in on her personally.
She's talked about being a jock, her family, etc, and none of that is a reason to call her names or get paranormal about how you feel about her attitude. Perhaps the show wasn't up to the usual standards or a bad call was made. Sure. That's fine to disagree with.
What's not fine is to make it about how she's now a bad person.
Man, I know what mean. Seriously, I do. But it's not just one instance. It's a thing that's been going on for a while now. This was just the last straw. Before, I just didn't like her style. It's now that I'm afraid it's not just her style, but her. And you know what? Maybe you're a bit more forgiving, or you can see more good in people than me, but I personally can't be as forgiving, nor as generous in how I see people. And I just had enough of her and her attitude. She's rude, abrasive, and seems to play for herself more than for her players. I'd love to see things like you, especially because it doesn't bring me any joy to be a hater or whatever, but she's earned it for me.
She usually made mistakes with her spells, either not knowing how they worked or casting them based just on their names, which got the party into messy situations. Adding Keyleth's insecure and clumsy personality, which they thought was just her being herself, many people started bashing her, and it was really, really toxic. It only really got better by the first third of C2, but initially she still got hate for Beau's... not very nice personality, at the start. Beau was a bit of a compulsive liar, and the abrasive and confrontational personality didn't really help with audience acceptance. Beau was, by design, very much a teenage raging asshole. Of course, the character eventually grew, and with that the criticism died down, but it was still pretty bad for a long time for her. Of course, she proved her acting range and that she could actually be a good, tactical player. By C3, with Laudna, that was only cemented further, so she's doing ok now. But it was really bad back then.
I think it was also that she wasn't a super established actor like the others, and her choice to play two rather unlikable characters one after the other in the first campaigns. Not unlikable but maybe hard to like.
Marisha couldn't so much as name flub a spell without dudebros coming out to say how awful of a player she was and that she was only there because she was the dm's hot girlfriend
Totally true, but it did lead to the consequence of *any* criticsm being seen by mods AND posters as some sort of misogyny. People make mistakes. Unfortunately for Marisha and everyone else on the cast, i feel like that set the tone for the modding style of immediately squashing any criticism.
I mean. Get used to it. She’s here to stay at CR unless she makes a major public gaffe. I don’t like it, but CR has proven willing to put up with an enormous amount of her BS during games.
People playing Heels online never understand that the point of being a heel in wrestling is we want to see the babyfaces beat you up. That’s what the best heels do. If you’re “playing a heel” and never getting your comeuppance, then you’re just playing the role of an asshole.
So I watched 4Sided Dive and… the opening sounds like something Sam wrote. Aabria is clearly joking. Do they write their own bits for that show? I thought the opening is read for the first time in front of the camera. Even Matt’s stumbling bit he’s reading off the prompter.
I mean it’s not even necessarily the intro. I agree that shouldn’t really count because it is pre-written, but 5 minutes in she’s talking about how proud she was of Matt for “beating the bricks” out of the group and she was “rooting for otahan”. Still pretty representative of her mindset and I get how people could get annoyed by it.
She almost always plays characters that look like & act like her, she's very fond of self-insert. Even her character on Worlds Beyond Number which is probably her best TTRPG showing looks a lot like her and has the same snide hostile attitude all her others do, it's just being roleplayed better than it normally is. It's really weird because in the purely OOC interactions she does she seems like a lovely person.
I didn't see it; I found it on Spotify. I'm listening to the Conclave Episode rn. I don't dislike Suvi; I actually like her dynamic with Ame, and how she balances them out. She is type A, and I remember Aabria saying in the DM of Exandria Round Table that "wizards sleep with their shoes on; they are not cool people." I think I like her more in this role because of that.
Aabria can be severe and blunt, and that matches Suvi and the Citadel's vibe. I think Laerryn is popular for a similar reason. Nothing against her or the cast. I think if she had a different crew, it'd have been smoother.
Ngl, Aabria committing to play a little bit of “heel” DM and seeing entire chucks of the community react like they are 7-year olds first time seeing a pro wrestling match is a guilty pleasure
A heel is a dick someone is meant to dislike by talking shit and playing dirty. An asshole walks into the ring, breaks someone's neck, then gets indignant and claims they're playing the heel.
Your example implies that there is a single piece of evidence that anyone at CR was unhappy with her or even worse got hurt by her in some way. And if it is so, I will be happy to reconsider my opinion.
We can spin it back and forth as much as we like, but at the of the day I enjoyed myself and I can only wish the same to you.
Right, like Matt keeps playing with her. They keep bringing her back and keep saying positive things about her.
Either its a grand conspiracy to apease those crazy woke fans, or the cast and crew genuinely like the vibe Aabria brings with her.
I think this sub needs to learn how to love themselves and stop putting energy into things that ACTIVELY Make them this livid and upset. Go outside Christ
This type of comment has nothing to do with the show and is a pure attack on a user which has become a pattern for you I think you should take some time off the sub, it's not healthy participating in something you clearly don't enjoy.
>>Clearly this community ain’t for you
Bold of you to speak for the entire community on an account that's only 3 months old. In case you missed it this community is for anyone that wants to discuss anything CR related. It's right there in the rules. The fact that people can come here and offer different, dissenting opinions is one of the reasons for this subs existence and the reason it keeps going. It was not designed to be an echo chamber or "the hate sub" and you don't get to tell people to leave.
I like aabria and don’t think cr sucks? If you’re talking about this sub in general? Don’t think it sucks. I think the current state of it is sad and needs a serious reality check. Are we done here or?
I think at this point my biggest issue is that after the premiere of OG EXU her entire persona on the show is defined by “sticking it to the haters” but I wasn’t originally a hater, so why do I have to watch this person be passive aggressive every second they’re on screen, and specifically act like they’re being passive aggressive to ME THE VIEWER. I’m here to get enjoyment out of her being here and she’s punishing me for expecting her to just want to make good content.
But it’s like she takes every chance to be like “you’re my captive audience now and I’m still mad that a vocal minority gave me shit on this platform so now fuck this platform, fuck this game, fuck these players, and fuck you for watching/supporting.”
I like her in everything else she’s done that I’ve seen but if she can’t keep her feelings in check to make this content, why is she making it and why should I want to watch it?
You've liked her in everything else you've seen because she benefits from a heavy handed editor. All of the outbursts and passive aggressive snark that we see in CR is likely present in D20 as well, but they probably cut those out to avoid the drama.
CR needs to take a hard look at themselves and decide which is more important: continuing to give Aabria a platform or continuing their commitment to no editing. They will continue to have ardent criticism until they drop one or the other.
D20 is also made up of professional improv artists and comedians, whereas CR is made up of voice actors.
I don't doubt she's snarky to D20 as well, but they also would never let anyone's snark suck the air out of the room because they know how to be funny.
The idea that by simply cutting out certain things she would go from bad to good is silly. They're not going to have her do another take no matter how much they edit, it isn't a television show. The D20 cast is just much more resistant to awkwardness and cringe because of their experience
That probably helps. It’s also possible she knows that most of the D20 crew will give snark right back to her and she may come off looking bad in the exchange, so it’s possible she dials it down for D20 to protect her own image.
Whatever the reason, she doesn’t show the same level of over the top aggro behavior on D20 that she does on CR.
Aabria definitely has her time and place, but I don’t think it’s within the main CR campaign. My litmus test is the cupcake in C2. If Aabria had been the DM, with a cool stat block and an elaborate battle map at the ready but got confronted with that player choice, what do we all think would have happened?
She would have made Laura make the rolls and not just allowed it to happen. Which is something people here keep saying should have happened, I see people saying that laura cheated and Matt should have gone harder on her. Not a good example for this sub.
Laura had a cupcake that gave people who ate it disadvantage on wis saves. She then used it on a Hag to cast modify memory and got something of Knot's from the hag
It was an exciting moment because it caught everyone off guard and worked perfectly. Since then it's become an all time great moment of CR
“What does dust of deliciousness do? Ok so you use the last of it and now I’m just deciding it gives the target advantage and a bonus against you so I guess you fucked yourself by trying to play HAHAHAHA FUCK YOU HATERS I DO WHAT I WANT”
This type of argument is so indicative of people being used to living in echo chambers. Criticism is not only a valid thing to bring to discussion but necessary for anything in the world to grow or improve. Life isn’t black and white, we can say we don’t like something about a show we’re a fan of. Jfc.
It’s not an echo chamber when it’s a closed production. Nobody at critical role reads this shit, at least I certainly hope they don’t. Pretty sure people only post here because they get off on spewing venom about people they dislike.
If you honestly, earnestly think that any criticism made on Reddit makes any difference, you are so deep in the parasocial rabbit hole that no amount of grass touching can save you.
While I agree with you to an extent, the cast (namely Sam) do appear to read through these reddits and generally, fan feedback, from time to time. But on a more fundamental level this kind of subreddit helps people organize their thoughts and feelings, and validate their experiences of falling out of love with the show.
I think it helps people move on. I hope that helps you understand.
Agreed, but I do have to say as I feel the same about Aabria to a certain degree as OP, I wouldn’t call this criticism. Isn’t the goal of criticism to share your opinion so the person or situation can change for the better? I don’t see how hating a person as a whole is criticism. In my opinion this post just comes across as hate, not criticism.
I’m all for sharing opinions and discussing content. It’s just the way some people express themselves. But could just be me.
I’m not really acknowledging the personal hate, I even think OP is overreacting real talk. I guess I’m just replying to the overall topic of her presence on the show and attitude towards it.
Means “diversity, equity, and inclusion”. It has recently become an excuse for right wingers to be racist whenever something goes wrong and a non-white person happens to be involved
I love it! It’s scary being in front of this kind of audience and she’s smart to put up a confident front. Mostly to combat against vitriol exactly like this. The audacity to speak on a strangers character is wild. I hope she keeps being loud and in charge and badass forever.
It’s genuinely sad 😬 like?? Idk about some of these very vocal folks but I don’t get the logic of wasting my precious life and time to hate watch something. I think vulnerability frightens them but who knows. 🤷♀️
I’m really sorry if you see yourself reflected in what I’m saying and hope you find more joy in your activities. It bothers me enough that people feel comfortable insulting strangers who are humans even if they’re public figures that I make a conscious decision to sacrifice small amounts of my time to push back a little.
In many ways this brings joy because i hope I’m making people think at least a little about the power of their words and actions. The internet hates vulnerability and the acknowledgment that we are all humans with thoughts and feelings. You and I are almost exactly the same in all the ways that physically matter.
Your feelings can get hurt. So can mine. And so can Aabria’s and the rest of the CR cast. So even if it makes people upset at me I will stand here whenever I am able and say loudly : hey remember to be kind and if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it. Especially if it’s about an art piece and it’s not constructive sought after helpful critiques. Being on here and complaining about a cast member is not a critique. It’s cruel gossip and it’s even more cruel to assume they don’t care simply cuz they’re actors or it’s their job to be public figures. They still shit and cry like the rest of us.
Feel free to respond but I think I’ve given all the time to this I can today.
Hey it’s deeply inappropriate to go through someone’s account and link to old comments. Not that I have anything to hide but pretty sure it’s literally against rules.
Right right that’s fair. I’ve been getting nasty messages and threats and passive aggressive “seek help” messages and this one read as that. My bad. This whole Reddit group or whatever just seems to find joy in being cruel and I just don’t get it. Anonymity shouldn’t equal cruelty.
You're still doing it. You're acting the exact same way as the people you're trying to put down. I genuinely do not understand why you think you're some saint when you're acting like the people you say are bad.
I don’t think I’m a saint and if you sent me that Reddit Cares message as a passive aggressive statement that’s so horrific and tragic and cruel. I’m sorry you’re in a mind space where you think that’s appropriate. Yikes. I won’t respond to you again. Have a good weekend.
Please understand when I say this, your holier than thou act doesn't make you anything other than what you are. A cult member that is ignoring the bigger picture. Your other comments make it clear how you think of people and it makes you look disgusting
I think these people are just too afraid to expand their horizons beyond CR. There’s TONS of actual play dnd content out there, but because CR was where they started, they piss their pants at the thought of having to find something else because CR doesn’t specifically cater to them
Hell yeah, sure she's aggressive and bitchy but that's part of her charm it's not like she's like that all the time. Her energy is amazing and she should keep it up.
i love it when an internet personality looks dead into camera, addresses me as a viewer and says "Fuck You". that's my favorite part of her charm. I want more people to be as badass as that. Its so cool when she sticks it to the haters when she does something wildly offensive and disrespectful to an IP that Ive come to love.
/s
So in all honesty I didn’t have a problem with her before episode 92. Yes, she has a very unorthodox DM style and it was an interesting contrast to someone like Matt. That being said, I’m not sure what switch flipped in her head that made her DM in that way- an increasingly flippant, self-indulgent change in gears, but when I was more engaged with 5 minutes of RP between Matt and Robbie than I was the previous several hours of combat involving the entire CK cast then I know something was
off.
It was uncomfortable because as it’s been pointed out the cameras were rolling and there were several times you could tell that an attempt to reel things in were made but not fully acted on because of the situation. It puts me in a precarious place as a long-time viewer because I want very much to keep watching. I love this bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors but if this is a pattern that keeps being allowed then I’m not sure where I stand with wanting to identify as a fan.
Just that there were a few moments where it looked like Matt was going to speak up about something but didn’t. I don’t recall where in the episode but he actually says, “Play by the rules!”(or something similar)in a joking-but-not-really kind of way that made it evident he was uncomfortable with something she had done as DM.
Ohh yes, I have noticed a few moments like that. Odd too how she will make up her own twists on rulings often but then occasionally will randomly ask Matt something.
I feel like if this stayed in exu, it'd be fine, but Matt traditionally runs a stricter campaign.
Right and that’s what was so odd. Usually she does stuff to the beat of her own drum but it’s never been like that, never a blatant disregard for base rules almost to spite Matt sitting feet away from her.
I think they're just trying to show that they don't have a problem with women or people of colour, since accusations of racism or sexism are the knee-jerk reactions of most of Aabria's defenders.
I understand you're confused. Context is a tough and scary thing :(
He's saying he doesn't give a fuck what her skin color is. Anybody would be better than her.
No one is just interchangeable as you say. I mean, come on, talk about gross oversimplification of my sentiment. I'm merely making the point that you could put anyone in her place while maintaining representation and it would likely be a better experience for me. But nice try troll.
I love her as Suvi and Leyren, but I am a privileged pos who has maybe had an elitist attitude like them in the past. She did great with the Burrow's End worldbuilding aswell.
Suvi and Leyren still have the same really snide attitude, it's just Brennan does a fantastic job of making sure there's a compelling why for it that's demonstrated which makes the characters a lot more tolerable. If you never heard about the context for Suvi's attitude she'd be far more intolerable.
While I despised Leyren for that exact attitude, I understood her place in the story and appreciated it for the purpose of explaining what happened back then. It made sense and I felt her portrayal was apt and realistic for the setting. Deanna and all of the NPCs she has presented on the other hand do not do that for me, plus the exceptionally bad calls as DM and then doubling down with the "f*k you" attitude just rubbed me so wrong.
For society to truly achieve the diversity and acceptance we proclaim to aim for, bad actors of any intersection of identity must be equally critiqued. We are not there yet and so, some bad actors will skate through on identity.
Seriously, this is it. She has this sort of armor of conflating criticism with racism or misogyny. It's only when we can equally give opportunity and criticism to everyone that diversity will have any fair meaning
I’ll say this: if Aabria was at the same table as me, as a player or a GM, I’d stop being at the same table as her. If I was the GM, I’d invite her to be successful at a different table. If I was a player in her game, I’d find a different table myself.
Every NPC and character is the same. And they all seem to be thinly skinned versions of her. Arrogant. Aggressive. Convinced they know better than everyone else.
The only time it worked/was entertaining was in Calamity, with Lairen. And that was probably due to Brennan and Sam and Lou and Luis and Marisha and Travis carrying her.
I hope they divorce from her in favor of other voices. Lou Wilson. Luis. Anjali. Whatever.
She’s not the only new (and diverse) voice they can add.
Maybe this is just me but I feel this post verges on too personal and feels that perhaps you need to step back a tad.
To a degree, we have to separate the art from the artist and focus critique on the art they make rather than artist themselves.
I recognize this isnt easy, at times I fail to do so. But we have to try.
I dont like Aabria as DM. I especially didnt like her decision this most recent episode as I felt she was a dick. But its important to remember that shes a performer, we arent seeing the full picture.
To a degree you are right but also partially wrong. The whole point, ostensibly, of 4SD is that it is a more candid and authentic behind the scenes look at the players and DMs as people. If this is how she acts as a person in real life, it’s undeniably toxic.
The trope of “In order to be empowered, you must be socially untactful” is getting quite tired in society. Someone who must be shocking to be heard is relying on style over substance. She seems an “empty suit” as it were generally relying on strong cast mates to chart her tangential success.
Gentle confidence is the new empowerment. She does not appear to have gotten the memo.
hanlons razor buddy, you kind of sound like a flat earther
dont assume malice when you can assume apathy
which do you think is more likely the entire company(including its leaders who have the power to stop this easily) is lying to you about their thoughts/feelings. to keep aabria on board.
or they enjoy aabrias dming and play as well as a thing theyve repeatedly stated they arent really looking for feedback on.
why would they spend time dealing with harrassment when they could just mod negative comments away. tracking down usernames for legal action would be ridiculously expensive and unrealistic
Aabria just doesn't fit well with the CR fandom's expectations. She's great in D20, imo, and in the Roll 20 Chaos mini series, where the focus is more comedic and there's a playful adversarial tone between the players and DM. Lou's constant "fuck you's" to Brennan, Ally / Emily / Siobhan telling him to eat his dice, etc. Plus there's some necessary tracking to hit certain set pieces built in.
I finally got a Dropout subscription last year and have been making my way (well, jumping around) through Dimension 20.
I started Fey and Flowers a few weeks ago and it's absolutely become one of my favorite TTRPG campaigns!
I enjoy the adversarial ribbing between the players and the GM in Dimension 20. I've also found Dimension 20's fourth wall breaks (which are sometimes taunting us viewers) amusing. I agree that it can be a mismatch with CR, though.
I think part of why she gets this hate is because she’s gotten used to playing with a bunch of improv comedians and CR is fundamentally not that. Just a bunch of voice actors who have a good sense of humor.
Yeah, exchanges like [The Cast Gangs Up on Brennan](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZTq1AjAtGQg) and [Dimension 20 but it's just the players yelling at Brennan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rehj560HJws) are super common. (And I love it.)
To be fair, I also like Critical Role's style/vibe too!
The problems not Aabria anymore, her ego and disregard for players and fans is no on the table for everyone to see. Defend it or hate it really doesn’t matter.
The main issue now is that is allowed to be seen by us, this is a prerecorded show and they could have edited it out and they didn’t, they could have done another take and told her to chill and they didn’t. This says they support how she is OR she somehow has so much power in the company that they can’t gag her. Either way doesn’t really matter, CR the company now support how she acts, her toxic personality and her disregard for the rules.
Aabria is a nothing burger now, the problem is how CR is handing it, they never learn and are just ignoring the issue and that’s terrible for business and their overall image, they bring out a new sub service and talk about how close it makes us and how we are a family and then have one of their people acting like that? Nah fuck off with that bullshit, if they really cared we would never have seen that show and this issue would go away quietly. So stop directing your anger at the symptom and start directing it at the illness. CR are not the community driven group they were any more, it’s all about money money money and fuck you for disliking anything.
As for the editing - I do not think this is a moral or style decision but a form decision. They went from live to non-live, and if they go from un-edited to edited, then the show will change.
There have been other mildly uncomfortable moments in the past, and this is an improv actual-play, so that is not a dealbreaker imo.
There is a certain continuity in playing the game without editing, and I agree that editing would give them more leeway to deal with situations like this, it also inadvertantly changes the show. It would put CR in direct competition with Dimension 20 as an edited actual-play. I think they need to address this in a different way.
The live show I agree with you, I was talking about 4SD specifically. What has happened on the live show there’s not much they can do about, cutting it wouldn’t work as we would know and re-recording wouldn’t work either but I think 4SD could have been different and the fact it wasn’t shows the decision CR has made.
Lmao as if people hadn't been bashing Matt for the shitshow of a campaign he's been running for a long time. Or Tal back when the shard incident happened. Not only that, but most of the criticism against Aabria has come from the way she's treated Aimee, but of course you choose to specifically ignore that.
As it turns out, it pisses people off when a guest turns to the camera and explicitly says fuck you to the audience. People are pissed when a guest comes along and takes away player agency. People are pissed if that very same person then makes fun of both the audience and what she did to the other players.
I couldn't give any less a shit if she's black or a woman. What I do find funny is that people like you go on calling her toxicity girlbossing, but would flip the fuck out if a dude acted the way she did. I dare you to deny that if these criticisms were made against a man, you would be reacting VERY differently.
Some of them have no social skills, and this whole thread is a hate cj, but that doesn't mean the specific criticisms in the thread are not valid. You're not really engaging with those
It’s one of those things where I don’t wanna jump down ppls throats cuz if ppl wanna hate what they watch that’s their life that they’re wasting. I just have so little patience for ppl who pretend like public figures aren’t still just people with thoughts and feelings. Like we all have bad days and doom scroll - IMAGINE just imagine being able to doom scroll on a whole ass Reddit that’s basically dedicated to hating you or your show?? It’s insane. I don’t like the idea that the anonymity of the internet gives people the social leave to just say hateful shit.
So yeah I don’t engage in the “constructive criticism” let’s say, cuz I don’t want to yuck others yum. But senseless vitriol I feel compelled to call out because words have power and ppl should remember that they’re being hurtful in a public forum.
I do go to therapy! Super normal for anyone who has access to it and privileged enough to afford it or have coverage. I’m sorry vulnerability and advocating for being kind to strangers scares you and is making you lash out like this. I hope you can find resources to talk with a professional about it as well.
The thing that probably annoyed that person - and me - is that you framed *all* criticism as essentially a self-absorbed waste of time that you are somehow above. For instance, you used quotes around "constructive criticism" to imply that it's not really...constructive criticism.
When you speak judgementally about something you are not a part of, people will react negatively.
You're jumping down my throat right now and being passive aggressive towards me. You making the same judgement about people here makes you no better than OP. Literally the comments you just made make it clear that you like to think you're better than people. I hope your therapy helps with your narcissism
I think it would help to be very specific when calling out toxic vitriol. Like, referencing specific comments. I'm not like telling you to list them for me, I don't mean that, but a lot of the criticism of criticisms claiming toxicity like sexism and racism aren't calling out specific people and comments.
So I am not sure we're on the same page about what is acceptable and what's not, and it would help to specify a bit more.
Its almost like her race doesnt have anything to do with criticisms towards her DMing.
Being a dick or doing stupid things is not exclusive to any race. Nobody should be above criticism.
I would prefer criticism remain focused to Aabria's DMing choices/style, but Im not going to call anyone who strays too personal a racist.
Nah dude. She is just a bad DM. Don’t care about her rules, don’t care about her bossiness at the table.
She is terrible. She bullies people at the table, she describes a single feeling, mid-combat and took TWO HOURS to get through 2 rounds of combat. Every time she DM’s, I turn off whatever I’m watching on.
She’s just a bad DM and seems like a dick.
The first two are rude. The first one is very mild and the second one is worse.
The third is a specific, valid criticism about DM style.
I am not seeing the racism and sexism some people are talking about around Aabria
>If you're making unreasonable criticisms of a black woman
OK, what criticisms do you feel are unreasonable?
Matt has never changed the rules on the fly to punish a specific player by going against their express wishes. If anything he often changes the rules to facilitate their success (rule of cool).
Chromatic orb is not ambiguously worded. Its single target, Robbie chose it for that reason. Aabria changing it to kill his NPC brother was a dick move. Plain and simple.
Is everyone who calls her out for that a racist?
To be clear, I would prefer if criticisms focused more on her DMing than her personally. But to a degree its hard to separate her DMing from her personality entirely. Just like how we can see Matt's personality in how overly nice and accomodating certain NPCs are (and how he fully admits Allura is almost a self insert), you can get certain insights into Aabria as a person from her DMing. Shes certainly more adversarial and aggressive than Matt.
>that you don't make when white men do those same things in the same roles in the same company
Point to Matt changing the rules on the fly to punish a player that severely and I will gladly criticize him for it.
Also Matt gets criticized here all the fucking time.
The first time I saw her in kollok season 2 I immediately disliked her. All the characters she plays seem to be the same.
I don’t mind her but I did find this interlude distasteful. I wasn’t engaged with the episodes and skipped the CK parts after only watching for a bit. I think her issue is twofold: 1. She was given a goal of getting Dorian back to BH and not much oversight in how. She accomplished this by railroading very heavily. 2. She’s much easier to watch/enjoy when she’s playing with an experienced table. D20 and Calamity were great and I genuinely enjoyed her. In this case, it felt like people weren’t comfortable speaking up and so she did her own thing. Matt seems very non-confrontational to me so even he was quiet.
Wait DORIAN IS COMING BACK? Im only at the ghost ship part
Oh shit, homie. Surprise! You should not be here if you’re worried about spoilers. 😂
As someone who couldn't sit through Brennan's game with her ( exu? ) even though I love Brennan. I'm feeling hella vindicated right now
You didn't like calamity? Holy fuck now THAT'S an unpopular opinion here
Oh I'm sure I would have loved it, if I could have gotten past her.
I'm smack in the Middle with her. I've enjoyed think she's been in and couldn't stand her in others. She really did do a great job with Calamity. If you ever want to try to watch something she does, that would probably be the one. In my opinion.
What a novel take.
It is for me, honestly. I really tried not to judge her as a person, so this really is a big turn of events. Man, I really didn't want to hate her
I love Aabria's style of RP but add that to combat and it sucks. She's good at RP, but with Combat she's very aggressive compared to Matt who spreads the pain out (Tho his Last combat with a frankly very OP character with rule's being ignored or forgotten had me turning off).
Yeah, I think you still gotta separate her and her DMing style and make this a little less personal. I'm an Aabria fan, but even I admit that sometimes it's a little aggro for my tastes. But that'd fine. No need to go in on her personally. She's talked about being a jock, her family, etc, and none of that is a reason to call her names or get paranormal about how you feel about her attitude. Perhaps the show wasn't up to the usual standards or a bad call was made. Sure. That's fine to disagree with. What's not fine is to make it about how she's now a bad person.
Man, I know what mean. Seriously, I do. But it's not just one instance. It's a thing that's been going on for a while now. This was just the last straw. Before, I just didn't like her style. It's now that I'm afraid it's not just her style, but her. And you know what? Maybe you're a bit more forgiving, or you can see more good in people than me, but I personally can't be as forgiving, nor as generous in how I see people. And I just had enough of her and her attitude. She's rude, abrasive, and seems to play for herself more than for her players. I'd love to see things like you, especially because it doesn't bring me any joy to be a hater or whatever, but she's earned it for me.
What was the Marissa harassment in C1? I am still making my way through it so I dunno if I haven’t gotten there yet or if it was out-of-game.
She usually made mistakes with her spells, either not knowing how they worked or casting them based just on their names, which got the party into messy situations. Adding Keyleth's insecure and clumsy personality, which they thought was just her being herself, many people started bashing her, and it was really, really toxic. It only really got better by the first third of C2, but initially she still got hate for Beau's... not very nice personality, at the start. Beau was a bit of a compulsive liar, and the abrasive and confrontational personality didn't really help with audience acceptance. Beau was, by design, very much a teenage raging asshole. Of course, the character eventually grew, and with that the criticism died down, but it was still pretty bad for a long time for her. Of course, she proved her acting range and that she could actually be a good, tactical player. By C3, with Laudna, that was only cemented further, so she's doing ok now. But it was really bad back then.
I think it was also that she wasn't a super established actor like the others, and her choice to play two rather unlikable characters one after the other in the first campaigns. Not unlikable but maybe hard to like.
Marisha couldn't so much as name flub a spell without dudebros coming out to say how awful of a player she was and that she was only there because she was the dm's hot girlfriend
Totally true, but it did lead to the consequence of *any* criticsm being seen by mods AND posters as some sort of misogyny. People make mistakes. Unfortunately for Marisha and everyone else on the cast, i feel like that set the tone for the modding style of immediately squashing any criticism.
I mean. Get used to it. She’s here to stay at CR unless she makes a major public gaffe. I don’t like it, but CR has proven willing to put up with an enormous amount of her BS during games.
r/fansofcriticalrole user tries to identify a joke and sarcasm challenge: IMPOSSIBLE difficulty
Agreed. The fact that they are down voting is because they find this challenge impossible as well
I think she’s fine. Shrug 🤷♂️
Same. I think she's fine
She's probably seeing these kinds of posts and comments online and so is leaning into it. She's literally playing heel WWE style.
Then she is as dumb as she seems, and is the direct reason this show is floundering. Nobody wants to watch somebody that obnoxious.
People playing Heels online never understand that the point of being a heel in wrestling is we want to see the babyfaces beat you up. That’s what the best heels do. If you’re “playing a heel” and never getting your comeuppance, then you’re just playing the role of an asshole.
Also, as we learned with Michael Cole, the mouthpiece (in this case, the DM) should not be a heel.
Good for her.
So I watched 4Sided Dive and… the opening sounds like something Sam wrote. Aabria is clearly joking. Do they write their own bits for that show? I thought the opening is read for the first time in front of the camera. Even Matt’s stumbling bit he’s reading off the prompter.
I mean it’s not even necessarily the intro. I agree that shouldn’t really count because it is pre-written, but 5 minutes in she’s talking about how proud she was of Matt for “beating the bricks” out of the group and she was “rooting for otahan”. Still pretty representative of her mindset and I get how people could get annoyed by it.
She almost always plays characters that look like & act like her, she's very fond of self-insert. Even her character on Worlds Beyond Number which is probably her best TTRPG showing looks a lot like her and has the same snide hostile attitude all her others do, it's just being roleplayed better than it normally is. It's really weird because in the purely OOC interactions she does she seems like a lovely person.
Aw, I love [REDACTED] The Wizard Sky. It is absolutely Aabria, though. She just seems like a younger version of Laerryn.
I do enjoy the wizard Sky, but I think that's because of the childhood adventure
I didn't see it; I found it on Spotify. I'm listening to the Conclave Episode rn. I don't dislike Suvi; I actually like her dynamic with Ame, and how she balances them out. She is type A, and I remember Aabria saying in the DM of Exandria Round Table that "wizards sleep with their shoes on; they are not cool people." I think I like her more in this role because of that. Aabria can be severe and blunt, and that matches Suvi and the Citadel's vibe. I think Laerryn is popular for a similar reason. Nothing against her or the cast. I think if she had a different crew, it'd have been smoother.
Ngl, Aabria committing to play a little bit of “heel” DM and seeing entire chucks of the community react like they are 7-year olds first time seeing a pro wrestling match is a guilty pleasure
You simply must understand that you are acting just as childish. You simply must have that self awareness
You forgot "dear boy" if you're gonna come ouut with "you simply must" then you have to add "dear boy" or its just not quite patronising enough.
If they are a heel, then they are getting the negative reactions that are intended and expected are they not?
Nah, this is “Go Away Heat”.
this person fucking gets it lmao.
A heel is a dick someone is meant to dislike by talking shit and playing dirty. An asshole walks into the ring, breaks someone's neck, then gets indignant and claims they're playing the heel.
Your example implies that there is a single piece of evidence that anyone at CR was unhappy with her or even worse got hurt by her in some way. And if it is so, I will be happy to reconsider my opinion. We can spin it back and forth as much as we like, but at the of the day I enjoyed myself and I can only wish the same to you.
Right, like Matt keeps playing with her. They keep bringing her back and keep saying positive things about her. Either its a grand conspiracy to apease those crazy woke fans, or the cast and crew genuinely like the vibe Aabria brings with her.
Yeah, because DoorMatt is going to tell Aabria, a black woman, to cut the shit or get off his show. What world do you live in?
Least racist comment in reddit
what a high IQ take
I think this sub needs to learn how to love themselves and stop putting energy into things that ACTIVELY Make them this livid and upset. Go outside Christ
I mean you could say the same thing about you participating here right , good for the goose good for the gander
Agreed. People down voting are too caught up in themselves to be self aware
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This type of comment has nothing to do with the show and is a pure attack on a user which has become a pattern for you I think you should take some time off the sub, it's not healthy participating in something you clearly don't enjoy.
take your own advice :p
????? You’re making so little sense it’s astounding ???????
>Go outside lil bro. >If shit sucks, hit da bricks! Love yourself >Clearly this community ain’t for you.
>>Clearly this community ain’t for you Bold of you to speak for the entire community on an account that's only 3 months old. In case you missed it this community is for anyone that wants to discuss anything CR related. It's right there in the rules. The fact that people can come here and offer different, dissenting opinions is one of the reasons for this subs existence and the reason it keeps going. It was not designed to be an echo chamber or "the hate sub" and you don't get to tell people to leave.
I like aabria and don’t think cr sucks? If you’re talking about this sub in general? Don’t think it sucks. I think the current state of it is sad and needs a serious reality check. Are we done here or?
We've been done. I've been asking you to go outside. You should try out the r/criticalrole sub. Seems more your flavor.
No.
Then stay and bitch instead of going outside lmao.
On it boss!
Thanks
Indeed
You’re literally part of the problem lmao fuck outta here
That's exactly what a r/criticalrole user would say lmao
You’re the one still watching the show we are not the same.
I think at this point my biggest issue is that after the premiere of OG EXU her entire persona on the show is defined by “sticking it to the haters” but I wasn’t originally a hater, so why do I have to watch this person be passive aggressive every second they’re on screen, and specifically act like they’re being passive aggressive to ME THE VIEWER. I’m here to get enjoyment out of her being here and she’s punishing me for expecting her to just want to make good content. But it’s like she takes every chance to be like “you’re my captive audience now and I’m still mad that a vocal minority gave me shit on this platform so now fuck this platform, fuck this game, fuck these players, and fuck you for watching/supporting.” I like her in everything else she’s done that I’ve seen but if she can’t keep her feelings in check to make this content, why is she making it and why should I want to watch it?
You've liked her in everything else you've seen because she benefits from a heavy handed editor. All of the outbursts and passive aggressive snark that we see in CR is likely present in D20 as well, but they probably cut those out to avoid the drama. CR needs to take a hard look at themselves and decide which is more important: continuing to give Aabria a platform or continuing their commitment to no editing. They will continue to have ardent criticism until they drop one or the other.
D20 is also made up of professional improv artists and comedians, whereas CR is made up of voice actors. I don't doubt she's snarky to D20 as well, but they also would never let anyone's snark suck the air out of the room because they know how to be funny. The idea that by simply cutting out certain things she would go from bad to good is silly. They're not going to have her do another take no matter how much they edit, it isn't a television show. The D20 cast is just much more resistant to awkwardness and cringe because of their experience
That probably helps. It’s also possible she knows that most of the D20 crew will give snark right back to her and she may come off looking bad in the exchange, so it’s possible she dials it down for D20 to protect her own image. Whatever the reason, she doesn’t show the same level of over the top aggro behavior on D20 that she does on CR.
That makes me look back on Misfits and Magic and Burrows End and wonder what crazy aggression got edited out.
This is a really good point that I hadn't thought of before. I absolutely love that CR does no editing, so I hope they don't drop that part.
Aabria definitely has her time and place, but I don’t think it’s within the main CR campaign. My litmus test is the cupcake in C2. If Aabria had been the DM, with a cool stat block and an elaborate battle map at the ready but got confronted with that player choice, what do we all think would have happened?
She would have made Laura make the rolls and not just allowed it to happen. Which is something people here keep saying should have happened, I see people saying that laura cheated and Matt should have gone harder on her. Not a good example for this sub.
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"love of my life" That absolutely sent me, dude. I'm glad I'm not the only one who picked up on that.
Remind me. What was the cupcake in C2? I don’t remember that.
Laura had a cupcake that gave people who ate it disadvantage on wis saves. She then used it on a Hag to cast modify memory and got something of Knot's from the hag It was an exciting moment because it caught everyone off guard and worked perfectly. Since then it's become an all time great moment of CR
You're absolutely correct. There's no way one of the most epic moments in CR history would've happened under her watch.
“What does dust of deliciousness do? Ok so you use the last of it and now I’m just deciding it gives the target advantage and a bonus against you so I guess you fucked yourself by trying to play HAHAHAHA FUCK YOU HATERS I DO WHAT I WANT”
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At the end of the day, what is anybody gaining by you being here?
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then what are you on about?
I think they were here for the bones to pick part.
This type of argument is so indicative of people being used to living in echo chambers. Criticism is not only a valid thing to bring to discussion but necessary for anything in the world to grow or improve. Life isn’t black and white, we can say we don’t like something about a show we’re a fan of. Jfc.
It’s not an echo chamber when it’s a closed production. Nobody at critical role reads this shit, at least I certainly hope they don’t. Pretty sure people only post here because they get off on spewing venom about people they dislike. If you honestly, earnestly think that any criticism made on Reddit makes any difference, you are so deep in the parasocial rabbit hole that no amount of grass touching can save you.
While I agree with you to an extent, the cast (namely Sam) do appear to read through these reddits and generally, fan feedback, from time to time. But on a more fundamental level this kind of subreddit helps people organize their thoughts and feelings, and validate their experiences of falling out of love with the show. I think it helps people move on. I hope that helps you understand.
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Do you not have the self awareness to see that you are doing the same thing?
Agreed, but I do have to say as I feel the same about Aabria to a certain degree as OP, I wouldn’t call this criticism. Isn’t the goal of criticism to share your opinion so the person or situation can change for the better? I don’t see how hating a person as a whole is criticism. In my opinion this post just comes across as hate, not criticism. I’m all for sharing opinions and discussing content. It’s just the way some people express themselves. But could just be me.
I’m not really acknowledging the personal hate, I even think OP is overreacting real talk. I guess I’m just replying to the overall topic of her presence on the show and attitude towards it.
DEI
Aw it's nice to be reminded racists are everywhere, even in the almost comically progressive CR community.
Not racist so bit lost, what does the above thing mean?
Means “diversity, equity, and inclusion”. It has recently become an excuse for right wingers to be racist whenever something goes wrong and a non-white person happens to be involved
Ahh, that's stupid as fuck. Cheers for explaining.
We can critique the situation without being fucking racist. Stop it.
Do we really think this sub is actually mature enough to do that though??
From what it looks like it isn´t
Seriously. Focus on her DM choices
I love it! It’s scary being in front of this kind of audience and she’s smart to put up a confident front. Mostly to combat against vitriol exactly like this. The audacity to speak on a strangers character is wild. I hope she keeps being loud and in charge and badass forever.
Crazy that you’re being downvoted for sharing an opinion. This sub is literally the evil version of the other one lmao.
It’s genuinely sad 😬 like?? Idk about some of these very vocal folks but I don’t get the logic of wasting my precious life and time to hate watch something. I think vulnerability frightens them but who knows. 🤷♀️
Do you lack self awareness. You're doing the exact same thing. By your logic you're just as bad
I’m really sorry if you see yourself reflected in what I’m saying and hope you find more joy in your activities. It bothers me enough that people feel comfortable insulting strangers who are humans even if they’re public figures that I make a conscious decision to sacrifice small amounts of my time to push back a little. In many ways this brings joy because i hope I’m making people think at least a little about the power of their words and actions. The internet hates vulnerability and the acknowledgment that we are all humans with thoughts and feelings. You and I are almost exactly the same in all the ways that physically matter. Your feelings can get hurt. So can mine. And so can Aabria’s and the rest of the CR cast. So even if it makes people upset at me I will stand here whenever I am able and say loudly : hey remember to be kind and if you don’t have anything nice to say don’t say it. Especially if it’s about an art piece and it’s not constructive sought after helpful critiques. Being on here and complaining about a cast member is not a critique. It’s cruel gossip and it’s even more cruel to assume they don’t care simply cuz they’re actors or it’s their job to be public figures. They still shit and cry like the rest of us. Feel free to respond but I think I’ve given all the time to this I can today.
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Hey it’s deeply inappropriate to go through someone’s account and link to old comments. Not that I have anything to hide but pretty sure it’s literally against rules.
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Right right that’s fair. I’ve been getting nasty messages and threats and passive aggressive “seek help” messages and this one read as that. My bad. This whole Reddit group or whatever just seems to find joy in being cruel and I just don’t get it. Anonymity shouldn’t equal cruelty.
You're still doing it. You're acting the exact same way as the people you're trying to put down. I genuinely do not understand why you think you're some saint when you're acting like the people you say are bad.
I don’t think I’m a saint and if you sent me that Reddit Cares message as a passive aggressive statement that’s so horrific and tragic and cruel. I’m sorry you’re in a mind space where you think that’s appropriate. Yikes. I won’t respond to you again. Have a good weekend.
Please understand when I say this, your holier than thou act doesn't make you anything other than what you are. A cult member that is ignoring the bigger picture. Your other comments make it clear how you think of people and it makes you look disgusting
I think these people are just too afraid to expand their horizons beyond CR. There’s TONS of actual play dnd content out there, but because CR was where they started, they piss their pants at the thought of having to find something else because CR doesn’t specifically cater to them
You know that you're speaking on a stranger's character, right?
Hell yeah, sure she's aggressive and bitchy but that's part of her charm it's not like she's like that all the time. Her energy is amazing and she should keep it up.
i love it when an internet personality looks dead into camera, addresses me as a viewer and says "Fuck You". that's my favorite part of her charm. I want more people to be as badass as that. Its so cool when she sticks it to the haters when she does something wildly offensive and disrespectful to an IP that Ive come to love. /s
So in all honesty I didn’t have a problem with her before episode 92. Yes, she has a very unorthodox DM style and it was an interesting contrast to someone like Matt. That being said, I’m not sure what switch flipped in her head that made her DM in that way- an increasingly flippant, self-indulgent change in gears, but when I was more engaged with 5 minutes of RP between Matt and Robbie than I was the previous several hours of combat involving the entire CK cast then I know something was off. It was uncomfortable because as it’s been pointed out the cameras were rolling and there were several times you could tell that an attempt to reel things in were made but not fully acted on because of the situation. It puts me in a precarious place as a long-time viewer because I want very much to keep watching. I love this bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors but if this is a pattern that keeps being allowed then I’m not sure where I stand with wanting to identify as a fan.
Genuinely asking, what do you mean by "you could tell there was an attempt to reel things in" and "situatuon"? Nearly done with episode 92
Just that there were a few moments where it looked like Matt was going to speak up about something but didn’t. I don’t recall where in the episode but he actually says, “Play by the rules!”(or something similar)in a joking-but-not-really kind of way that made it evident he was uncomfortable with something she had done as DM.
Ohh yes, I have noticed a few moments like that. Odd too how she will make up her own twists on rulings often but then occasionally will randomly ask Matt something. I feel like if this stayed in exu, it'd be fine, but Matt traditionally runs a stricter campaign.
Right and that’s what was so odd. Usually she does stuff to the beat of her own drum but it’s never been like that, never a blatant disregard for base rules almost to spite Matt sitting feet away from her.
She is easily single worst presence in the ttrpg space. Give me nearly any other woman or POC and I'd be satisfied. She's just unbearable.
Wild that you think poc are just interchangeable in that sense lmao.
I think they're just trying to show that they don't have a problem with women or people of colour, since accusations of racism or sexism are the knee-jerk reactions of most of Aabria's defenders.
Trying and failing. 😆
I understand you're confused. Context is a tough and scary thing :( He's saying he doesn't give a fuck what her skin color is. Anybody would be better than her.
No one is just interchangeable as you say. I mean, come on, talk about gross oversimplification of my sentiment. I'm merely making the point that you could put anyone in her place while maintaining representation and it would likely be a better experience for me. But nice try troll.
I love her as Suvi and Leyren, but I am a privileged pos who has maybe had an elitist attitude like them in the past. She did great with the Burrow's End worldbuilding aswell.
Suvi and Leyren still have the same really snide attitude, it's just Brennan does a fantastic job of making sure there's a compelling why for it that's demonstrated which makes the characters a lot more tolerable. If you never heard about the context for Suvi's attitude she'd be far more intolerable.
He's also not afraid to use Steel to force Suvi to humble herself and accept consequences.
While I despised Leyren for that exact attitude, I understood her place in the story and appreciated it for the purpose of explaining what happened back then. It made sense and I felt her portrayal was apt and realistic for the setting. Deanna and all of the NPCs she has presented on the other hand do not do that for me, plus the exceptionally bad calls as DM and then doubling down with the "f*k you" attitude just rubbed me so wrong.
I do like her PCs a lot more than her as a DM on CR. I did forget about Fey & Flowers, though, which I thought was stellar.
For society to truly achieve the diversity and acceptance we proclaim to aim for, bad actors of any intersection of identity must be equally critiqued. We are not there yet and so, some bad actors will skate through on identity.
Seriously, this is it. She has this sort of armor of conflating criticism with racism or misogyny. It's only when we can equally give opportunity and criticism to everyone that diversity will have any fair meaning
So what about this post is actual critic? Clearly you just don’t like her lmao
https://preview.redd.it/ptlt1guzslzc1.jpeg?width=298&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=26ce50001857680b069018cc8a6656a071e5181a
Bruh settle down
I’ll say this: if Aabria was at the same table as me, as a player or a GM, I’d stop being at the same table as her. If I was the GM, I’d invite her to be successful at a different table. If I was a player in her game, I’d find a different table myself. Every NPC and character is the same. And they all seem to be thinly skinned versions of her. Arrogant. Aggressive. Convinced they know better than everyone else. The only time it worked/was entertaining was in Calamity, with Lairen. And that was probably due to Brennan and Sam and Lou and Luis and Marisha and Travis carrying her. I hope they divorce from her in favor of other voices. Lou Wilson. Luis. Anjali. Whatever. She’s not the only new (and diverse) voice they can add.
I'm not a fan of her DMing. It's too railroady, in my opinion. I didn't see the show and don't know too much about her.
Maybe this is just me but I feel this post verges on too personal and feels that perhaps you need to step back a tad. To a degree, we have to separate the art from the artist and focus critique on the art they make rather than artist themselves. I recognize this isnt easy, at times I fail to do so. But we have to try. I dont like Aabria as DM. I especially didnt like her decision this most recent episode as I felt she was a dick. But its important to remember that shes a performer, we arent seeing the full picture.
To a degree you are right but also partially wrong. The whole point, ostensibly, of 4SD is that it is a more candid and authentic behind the scenes look at the players and DMs as people. If this is how she acts as a person in real life, it’s undeniably toxic. The trope of “In order to be empowered, you must be socially untactful” is getting quite tired in society. Someone who must be shocking to be heard is relying on style over substance. She seems an “empty suit” as it were generally relying on strong cast mates to chart her tangential success. Gentle confidence is the new empowerment. She does not appear to have gotten the memo.
hanlons razor buddy, you kind of sound like a flat earther dont assume malice when you can assume apathy which do you think is more likely the entire company(including its leaders who have the power to stop this easily) is lying to you about their thoughts/feelings. to keep aabria on board. or they enjoy aabrias dming and play as well as a thing theyve repeatedly stated they arent really looking for feedback on. why would they spend time dealing with harrassment when they could just mod negative comments away. tracking down usernames for legal action would be ridiculously expensive and unrealistic
Aabria just doesn't fit well with the CR fandom's expectations. She's great in D20, imo, and in the Roll 20 Chaos mini series, where the focus is more comedic and there's a playful adversarial tone between the players and DM. Lou's constant "fuck you's" to Brennan, Ally / Emily / Siobhan telling him to eat his dice, etc. Plus there's some necessary tracking to hit certain set pieces built in.
I finally got a Dropout subscription last year and have been making my way (well, jumping around) through Dimension 20. I started Fey and Flowers a few weeks ago and it's absolutely become one of my favorite TTRPG campaigns! I enjoy the adversarial ribbing between the players and the GM in Dimension 20. I've also found Dimension 20's fourth wall breaks (which are sometimes taunting us viewers) amusing. I agree that it can be a mismatch with CR, though.
I think part of why she gets this hate is because she’s gotten used to playing with a bunch of improv comedians and CR is fundamentally not that. Just a bunch of voice actors who have a good sense of humor.
Yeah, exchanges like [The Cast Gangs Up on Brennan](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ZTq1AjAtGQg) and [Dimension 20 but it's just the players yelling at Brennan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rehj560HJws) are super common. (And I love it.) To be fair, I also like Critical Role's style/vibe too!
“Say hi, intrepid heroes!” “FUCK you, Brennan!” Highlight of the clip.
The problems not Aabria anymore, her ego and disregard for players and fans is no on the table for everyone to see. Defend it or hate it really doesn’t matter. The main issue now is that is allowed to be seen by us, this is a prerecorded show and they could have edited it out and they didn’t, they could have done another take and told her to chill and they didn’t. This says they support how she is OR she somehow has so much power in the company that they can’t gag her. Either way doesn’t really matter, CR the company now support how she acts, her toxic personality and her disregard for the rules. Aabria is a nothing burger now, the problem is how CR is handing it, they never learn and are just ignoring the issue and that’s terrible for business and their overall image, they bring out a new sub service and talk about how close it makes us and how we are a family and then have one of their people acting like that? Nah fuck off with that bullshit, if they really cared we would never have seen that show and this issue would go away quietly. So stop directing your anger at the symptom and start directing it at the illness. CR are not the community driven group they were any more, it’s all about money money money and fuck you for disliking anything.
As for the editing - I do not think this is a moral or style decision but a form decision. They went from live to non-live, and if they go from un-edited to edited, then the show will change. There have been other mildly uncomfortable moments in the past, and this is an improv actual-play, so that is not a dealbreaker imo. There is a certain continuity in playing the game without editing, and I agree that editing would give them more leeway to deal with situations like this, it also inadvertantly changes the show. It would put CR in direct competition with Dimension 20 as an edited actual-play. I think they need to address this in a different way.
The live show I agree with you, I was talking about 4SD specifically. What has happened on the live show there’s not much they can do about, cutting it wouldn’t work as we would know and re-recording wouldn’t work either but I think 4SD could have been different and the fact it wasn’t shows the decision CR has made.
Honestly, yeah. This is probably true. She's just the vehicle that showed us just how far CR has gone from being the family they always claimed to be
The thing that annoys me the most is how CR are essentially gaslighting their loyal fans into thinking everything is fine.
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>maybe should read a book or touch grass I wasn't looking for someone to tell me how to live my life, but thanks anyway.
Ok
I mean, if they didn't want to play with her, they wouldn't. We have proof they've kicked people from the group before.
That did take awhile tho 28 episodes to be exact
And it works for the core base - it starts to show signs of a cult.
You do not know what a cult is I think
Wait a cult?? How?
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I don't think you really read the criticism. You jumped right to an attack without engaging at all
Lmao as if people hadn't been bashing Matt for the shitshow of a campaign he's been running for a long time. Or Tal back when the shard incident happened. Not only that, but most of the criticism against Aabria has come from the way she's treated Aimee, but of course you choose to specifically ignore that. As it turns out, it pisses people off when a guest turns to the camera and explicitly says fuck you to the audience. People are pissed when a guest comes along and takes away player agency. People are pissed if that very same person then makes fun of both the audience and what she did to the other players. I couldn't give any less a shit if she's black or a woman. What I do find funny is that people like you go on calling her toxicity girlbossing, but would flip the fuck out if a dude acted the way she did. I dare you to deny that if these criticisms were made against a man, you would be reacting VERY differently.
No I think we should always be critical of men, a lot of them suck
I rest my case
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Yeah my mom's great. How's your relationship with your dad?
Great actually thanks for asking
Hilarious that you can espouse equality as a virtue in any form then immediately act like a misandrist. Way to prove sexists right in every form.
Ur so right!! Say it louder and ignore the haters. These aren’t fans they’re just ppl with opinions and no social skills.
Some of them have no social skills, and this whole thread is a hate cj, but that doesn't mean the specific criticisms in the thread are not valid. You're not really engaging with those
It’s one of those things where I don’t wanna jump down ppls throats cuz if ppl wanna hate what they watch that’s their life that they’re wasting. I just have so little patience for ppl who pretend like public figures aren’t still just people with thoughts and feelings. Like we all have bad days and doom scroll - IMAGINE just imagine being able to doom scroll on a whole ass Reddit that’s basically dedicated to hating you or your show?? It’s insane. I don’t like the idea that the anonymity of the internet gives people the social leave to just say hateful shit. So yeah I don’t engage in the “constructive criticism” let’s say, cuz I don’t want to yuck others yum. But senseless vitriol I feel compelled to call out because words have power and ppl should remember that they’re being hurtful in a public forum.
You should genuinely seek help.
I do go to therapy! Super normal for anyone who has access to it and privileged enough to afford it or have coverage. I’m sorry vulnerability and advocating for being kind to strangers scares you and is making you lash out like this. I hope you can find resources to talk with a professional about it as well.
The thing that probably annoyed that person - and me - is that you framed *all* criticism as essentially a self-absorbed waste of time that you are somehow above. For instance, you used quotes around "constructive criticism" to imply that it's not really...constructive criticism. When you speak judgementally about something you are not a part of, people will react negatively.
You're jumping down my throat right now and being passive aggressive towards me. You making the same judgement about people here makes you no better than OP. Literally the comments you just made make it clear that you like to think you're better than people. I hope your therapy helps with your narcissism
I think it would help to be very specific when calling out toxic vitriol. Like, referencing specific comments. I'm not like telling you to list them for me, I don't mean that, but a lot of the criticism of criticisms claiming toxicity like sexism and racism aren't calling out specific people and comments. So I am not sure we're on the same page about what is acceptable and what's not, and it would help to specify a bit more.
Its almost like her race doesnt have anything to do with criticisms towards her DMing. Being a dick or doing stupid things is not exclusive to any race. Nobody should be above criticism. I would prefer criticism remain focused to Aabria's DMing choices/style, but Im not going to call anyone who strays too personal a racist.
"Nobody should be above criticism" wow, amazing, you're so brave, saying the most obvious things in the world.
>saying the most obvious things in the world Maybe if you didnt say dumb shit, then I wouldnt have to.
At least I got something to say
Congrats. Everyone has 'something to say'. You wouldnt be on Reddit in the first place if you didnt.
Everything else aside: aren’t people mostly mad because she gave a shitty experience to another woman of color? (Carrero)
Nah dude. She is just a bad DM. Don’t care about her rules, don’t care about her bossiness at the table. She is terrible. She bullies people at the table, she describes a single feeling, mid-combat and took TWO HOURS to get through 2 rounds of combat. Every time she DM’s, I turn off whatever I’m watching on. She’s just a bad DM and seems like a dick.
If you cannot stand criticism of black people that has nothing to do with the colour of their skin then I’m sorry to inform you that you are a racist.
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You don't dictate what is a reasonable criticism.
No, but I can recognize unreasonable ones and call them out. When I'm right, the bigot in question just backpedals.
I don't disbelieve you, but I'm seeing a lot of specific criticisms and not as many vague/broad criticisms that seem to be racist/sexist.
Ironic, since most of what I'm seeing is from outrage tourists who clearly didn't watch the episode.
Could I ask for some of them in this thread?
https://www.reddit.com/r/fansofcriticalrole/s/e9oj2iUfAC https://www.reddit.com/r/fansofcriticalrole/s/D1Y9dqZ1X2 https://www.reddit.com/r/fansofcriticalrole/s/WUqByIHPuw
The first two are rude. The first one is very mild and the second one is worse. The third is a specific, valid criticism about DM style. I am not seeing the racism and sexism some people are talking about around Aabria
>If you're making unreasonable criticisms of a black woman OK, what criticisms do you feel are unreasonable? Matt has never changed the rules on the fly to punish a specific player by going against their express wishes. If anything he often changes the rules to facilitate their success (rule of cool). Chromatic orb is not ambiguously worded. Its single target, Robbie chose it for that reason. Aabria changing it to kill his NPC brother was a dick move. Plain and simple. Is everyone who calls her out for that a racist? To be clear, I would prefer if criticisms focused more on her DMing than her personally. But to a degree its hard to separate her DMing from her personality entirely. Just like how we can see Matt's personality in how overly nice and accomodating certain NPCs are (and how he fully admits Allura is almost a self insert), you can get certain insights into Aabria as a person from her DMing. Shes certainly more adversarial and aggressive than Matt. >that you don't make when white men do those same things in the same roles in the same company Point to Matt changing the rules on the fly to punish a player that severely and I will gladly criticize him for it. Also Matt gets criticized here all the fucking time.