This is the magic right here
May 24, 2019 6:51 AM Subscribe
Stephen Colbert plays D&D with Matt Mercer (YouTube) For Comic Relief's Red Nose Day this year Stephen Colbert teamed up with Critical Role's Matt Mercer for a one on one D&D session. Colbert's joy and enthusiasm is infectious, and Mercer offers up a DMing master class in the way he weaves the theme of Red Nose Day into the adventure.
This was a lot of fun to watch; seeing Colbert reconnect with this youthful passion and his absolute joy as Matt wove the world for him was magical. The motivational sword was also good fun.
posted by nubs at 8:18 AM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by nubs at 8:18 AM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Colbert is legitimately recalling Original D&D/AD&D rules:
OD&D (the rule books he talks about) was a mess of charts and tables to figure out even if you could complete the simplest actions. By Fifth edition, all those issues have been smoothed away. The base mechanic is now roll a 20-sided die (or sometimes two) and add a modifying number. This makes Matt's job so much easier---he can just say roll the dice and add this skill value. Colbert took to it like a duck to water.
Bards were a absolute mess in 0e/1e requiring the most obscure combination of optional class rules (and racial restrictions)
He's confused by the way spell casting has changed. It's no longer "Vancian" and is a great deal more forgiving in 5e.
Listening was absolutely its own thing and a separate roll from everything else.
Colbert, even without mentioning Metamorphosis Alpha, is absolutely showing his wargamer cred here.
Everyone needs a bit of ichor now and then.
posted by bonehead at 8:38 AM on May 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
OD&D (the rule books he talks about) was a mess of charts and tables to figure out even if you could complete the simplest actions. By Fifth edition, all those issues have been smoothed away. The base mechanic is now roll a 20-sided die (or sometimes two) and add a modifying number. This makes Matt's job so much easier---he can just say roll the dice and add this skill value. Colbert took to it like a duck to water.
Bards were a absolute mess in 0e/1e requiring the most obscure combination of optional class rules (and racial restrictions)
He's confused by the way spell casting has changed. It's no longer "Vancian" and is a great deal more forgiving in 5e.
Listening was absolutely its own thing and a separate roll from everything else.
Colbert, even without mentioning Metamorphosis Alpha, is absolutely showing his wargamer cred here.
Everyone needs a bit of ichor now and then.
posted by bonehead at 8:38 AM on May 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
And they've got some Diablo 2 music going in the background; nice.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 8:41 AM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 8:41 AM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
Mercer (and many of the others in the Critical Role cast) has done so much work for Blizzard over the years that they've given Critical Role a free license to use all of their music.
posted by bonehead at 8:43 AM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by bonehead at 8:43 AM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
ERIC NO
posted by meese at 9:11 AM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by meese at 9:11 AM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
Appreciated the Monty Python bee reference. Deep nerd cuts in D&D character naming feels highly appropriate.
I enjoyed this mostly for the genuine reactions from both sides at the start and end. Though Mercer’s voices and DMing is top tier the game itself was incidental to the joy of rediscovery on Colbert’s part.
posted by slimepuppy at 9:53 AM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
I enjoyed this mostly for the genuine reactions from both sides at the start and end. Though Mercer’s voices and DMing is top tier the game itself was incidental to the joy of rediscovery on Colbert’s part.
posted by slimepuppy at 9:53 AM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
I don't think I've ever seen a single thing as pure and as wholesome as Stephen Colbert's facial expression as Matt Mercer DMed the ghost of Shiona warning him away from certain doom.
This made my entire evening.
posted by jurymast at 10:23 AM on May 24, 2019 [5 favorites]
This made my entire evening.
posted by jurymast at 10:23 AM on May 24, 2019 [5 favorites]
Not only his joy was evident, but watching Colbert, you could see how smart he is and how carefully he considered everything that was going on. That, in itself, was a pleasure to view.
posted by sardonyx at 10:38 AM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by sardonyx at 10:38 AM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
THIS WAS THE BEST
I cried the entire time with joy because these dudes are two of my favorite people and it was just adorable to see them enraptured with one another
Bless Critical Role for changing my life in this way
posted by Hermione Granger at 12:09 PM on May 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
I cried the entire time with joy because these dudes are two of my favorite people and it was just adorable to see them enraptured with one another
Bless Critical Role for changing my life in this way
posted by Hermione Granger at 12:09 PM on May 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
He really should have named his companion “Samantha”.
posted by lowtide at 2:46 PM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by lowtide at 2:46 PM on May 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
Appreciated the Monty Python bee reference. Deep nerd cuts in D&D character naming feels highly appropriate.
While Mercer references Eric the Half-a-Bee, part of me wonders if Colbert (perhaps?) had a less nerdy inspiration and named it after Eric B.?
posted by fings at 8:59 PM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
While Mercer references Eric the Half-a-Bee, part of me wonders if Colbert (perhaps?) had a less nerdy inspiration and named it after Eric B.?
posted by fings at 8:59 PM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
This totally needs a FeelGoodFilter tag! How much fun to watch this, I'm so glad you posted!
posted by hippybear at 9:55 PM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 9:55 PM on May 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
I absolutely adored this.
posted by xarnop at 2:46 PM on May 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by xarnop at 2:46 PM on May 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Awesome!
I knew Colbert was a fellow D&Der, but I didn’t know he was an OG. Dude predates me by two years in the game. Increased respect for him, which I wouldn’t have imagined possible.
posted by darkstar at 7:49 AM on May 30, 2019
I knew Colbert was a fellow D&Der, but I didn’t know he was an OG. Dude predates me by two years in the game. Increased respect for him, which I wouldn’t have imagined possible.
posted by darkstar at 7:49 AM on May 30, 2019
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