#bill geek and sundry

[goosedoes-fics]

Werewolf

Bill x witch!Reader

Content Warnings: use of POVs, hanging mention, use of y/n, it's really just mild hurt/comfort

Notes: when I uploaded this to ao3 about a year ago I put one of the tags as "impromptu divorce" and I think that's really funny

~~~~

POV: Bill

Bill ran through the thick forest as fast as he possibly could. Stray twigs and branches clawed at his face as he rushed by them, leaving dirty scratches where they whipped past.

Bill could hear the townspeople's outraged cries some ways behind him. His friends, his family, everyone he had ever known, trying to have him dead. He tried to tell himself it wasn't their fault. The paranoia got to them. But the look of hatred on his wife's face... he couldn't forget that.

At the memory of his wife, his mind flashed back to the scene in the Seer's abode. Despite their semifrequent arguments, Bill had expected his wife to defend him when he was accused of being the werewolf. But... she was so quick to turn on him. There was no sympathy in the woman's eyes when she followed the crowd to have him hung.

The memory brought tears to his eyes, blurring his vision. His emotions were a vortex of anger, of fear, of sadness and betrayal. Quickly, the anger overtook all others. Putting his jeweled hand in front of him, he threw off the precious golden ring viciously, watching it fly behind him and land in a pile of mud, slowly getting harder to see as his legs carried him further away.

The ring was hard to see now. In fact, Bill couldn't hear the townsfolk anymore, either. He slowed to a fatigued jog, straining his senses for any sort of evidence that he was still being followed.

Silence.

With the town, the villagers, and the ring now out of sight, it was as if Bill had never lived there in the first place. He couldn't decipher if this fact made him joyful or absolutely miserable.

Bill refused to stop walking for quite some time. Though every inch of his body begged him to cease his fleeing, he couldn't be sure yet if his pursuers were far enough away to be safe.

It was nearly midnight now. The moonlight filtered through the trees, casting an oddly serene light on the forest floor. Though, Bill noticed, the trees were beginning to thin out considerably.

Looking further ahead, he could clearly see an open field lined with dazzling flowers. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief at his fortune. This would be a good place to settle down. Nobody would be able to sneak up on him.

"You're quite some ways away from the village."

Bill leapt into the air, gaining astounding height from the shock of the sudden voice. Whirling around in panic, he swiftly noticed a human figure wrapped in a silken cloak and decorated by colourful flowers.

It was evidently none of the townspeople, so Bill let himself settle down. He took a few steps back before letting himself speak.

"Who are you?" he asked warily, eyeing them carefully to take in their features.

"You may call me [Y/n] [L/n]." the stranger's critical yet gentle [e/c] eyes were shaded slightly by the brim of their rounded hat. "The Seer told me of your town's plight. I am sympathetic, though as I told her, I am forbidden from tempering in Wolven affairs. I cannot help you."

Bill bowed his head nervously. "I understand. B-but... I have been driven out of the village. I-I am no longer a resident there." as he spoke, he felt his fatigue catch up to him. He willed his eyes to stay open, praying he didn't faint in the midst of a stranger's presence.

They paused for a moment, gazing at Bill carefully. "I'm sorry, but I have no room to house someone of your kind. My work is frowned upon in your world, and I'd hate to force my beliefs upon you." They said the last bit coldly, as if they had heard such a phrase a thousand times.

Bill opened his mouth to speak again, but the thrill of running from the townspeople was beginning to wear off quickly.

Fatigue hit him hard and fast, and as he began to crumble to the ground, all he could muster was a quiet sorry before everything went black.

POV: 2nd person

You gazed at the odd villager curiously as he unconsciously nestled further into his pile of woolen blankets. His sudden fall had surprised you for sure, but you managed to catch him just before he hit the ground. You suprised yourself with being able to catch the hefty man, really. You had to pretty much drag him to your cottage. Oh well, his clothes needed cleaning anyways.

You glanced outside the window. It was about noon by now. The man had been sleeping for at least 12 hours.

As if he had read your thoughts, you saw his figure start to stir in the corner of your eye. Turning to him, you could see just how much good the rest had done him.

He sat up in your wood-framed bed you had lent him, stretching with a loud yawn. The bags under his eyes were no longer visible, you noted as he turned to look at you.

You made eye contact for an uncomfortable amount of time before you spoke up. "Despite my previous concerns... I'm willing to let you stay under this roof for as long as you need. So long as you keep your religious opinions to yourself."

The man looked dazed and confused. Perhaps he had forgotten the events of the previous night? "I don't... think I follow."

"I am a witch," you responded simply, gesturing to the herbs growing in pots around your room. "And your... ex-neighbors have been trying to kill me for years."

He blinked, eyebrows knitting together in an expression of concern. "Well, that hardly seems fair," he commented. "Though they don't seem to know the meaning of fair, I'm coming to realize." His words turned bitter and you remembered his passing comment about being driven out.

"What is your name?" you asked gently after a moment's pause, crossing the room to stand by your desk. You took a vial of coloured liquid, tapping a drop of it into a newly-brewed cup of herbal tea.

"It's... Bill."

You walked back to him, holding out the drink. He accepted it gratefully, taking a few sips. "Normally nobody drinks that brew," you commented fondly. "It's always too bitter for them."

Bill tilted his head. "Sure it's bitter," he agreed, "but you seem to know your way around herbs. I trust you."

A warm feeling filled your chest at his words. This odd man was clearly different from the other villagers. Somehow, he made you feel as if you wanted him to stay.

You quickly brushed the thoughts away. Surely, his fellow townsfolk would welcome him back soon. You wouldn't want to keep him for longer than he needed.

"You should go back to sleep," you advised quietly. "The potion needs time to take effect. It will clear any wounds that haven't already mended."

Bill frowned slightly at your words. "I don't know if I can. I'm not used to sleeping alone."

You raised an eyebrow, staring at Bill for a moment. After some thought, you let out a soft sigh, walking over and sitting on the bed. "Does it go against your kosher laws if you use a witch like a teddy bear?" you asked with a hint of sarcasm.

Bill's face turned a light shade of pink. "O-oh. Well, no, but you... you don't have to if you don't want to."

"It's fine." You smiled softly, laying down next to Bill and staring up at the ceiling. You expected that he wouldn't cuddle with you. You had only just met. But maybe just being close by would help him fall back asleep.

A few minutes passed by with no sounds from Bill. Thinking he had fallen asleep, you turned on your side, facing the window and looking out it placidly. Then, you felt a woolen blanket being pulled over you, and strong arms pulling you closer towards the center of the bed. Your face flushed at the unexpected embrace, but you didn't speak for fear of alarming the tired man and having him pull away. He rested his face in the crook of your neck, his breath warming your skin. His face felt almost as warm as yours, evidently unsure of whether you would accept his touch.

You let yourself relax into the embrace, allowing Bill to do the same. His breathing steadied as he drifted off again.

You closed your eyes as well, letting drowsiness overtake you. The two of you were safe together, you knew for sure.

[fenneciplier]

THE WINNER -> The necromancer x reader romantic headcanons

[r-h-e-t]

Eric’s TBD RPG  | Doctor Who

Stay whimsical.

A wonderful little tabletop RPG series from 2017 that I happily recommend, especially to any fans of Doctor Who, though I’ve also seen some folks say they had no knowledge of the series but enjoyed the campaign anyway.

It’s officially available to subscribers of Geek & Sundry’s Twitch channel. But you can just watch the full thing on Youtube HERE.

(Note: For the crossover with the group’s later Star Trek campaign, only the very end of episode 40 has any Doctor Who campaign characters. Episode 41 is the main crossover episode.)

Cast:

GM - ERIC CAMPBELL

The Doctor - AMY DALLEN

Cillian Rail - DUNCAN BARCLAY

Veleg - DARIN DE PAUL

Finn Alexander - GINA DEVIVO

Rokokokoko - SAM DE LEVE

“The Prisoner”/“Lisa" - JODY HOUSER

Meatstick - MATTHEW  MERCER

Chronotis - TALIESIN JAFFE

Jack Harkness - DYLAN DOVALE

Also featuring:

Bargle Bill (Ooh'loo'h) - MICHAEL ROBERT HOLMES

“Piggy” (Human, 18th Century) - ERIKA ISHII

Davros - JASON CHARLES MILLER

“The Rogue” (Time Lord) - ALIZA PEARL

(As I wasn’t able to include everybody in the gifset, characters were selected by who appeared in the highest amount of episodes with the most screen time.)

I’ll be making more Eric’s TBD RPG related posts in the future, and anything spoiler-y will be posted under the tag “Eric’s TBD RPG SPOILERS”.

[samcarter34]

I saw that tweet that said 'CR is popular because of the camaraderie between the cast' and while that is true, like you said, G&S had such a huge role to play.

The way I understand it, Felicia Day essentially gave them first priority and G&S pretty much footed all the production costs. Combine that with the cast's sort of celebrity status in the nerd circles and no wonder it worked out well.

It's sad that so many newer APs have to compete and be compared against against CR when they do not have the same backing that CR did.

People tend to confuse getting an audience with keeping one. The cast's camaraderie are definitely a big part of what keeps fans watching, but that doesn't mean much to people who aren't already fans.

I honestly think it's actually kinda dangerous to talk about Critical Role's beginnings and how it came to be what it is without talking about Geek & Sundry's role because it creates an immensely skewed version of events. And, since Critical Role is one of, if not the, biggest name in Actual Play, it also creates a huge misconception of what smaller Actual Plays should be able to deliver, especially right out the gate.

Like, for example, shortly after I first saw this ask, I saw a tweet from Jasmine Bhullar saying that someone said that her her new show DesiQuest should have CR level production value due to the success of the kickstarter. Even setting aside how stupid it to compare something that's had ~7 years to build itself to something new, CR basically got headhunted by G&S and had their bills paid for. Like, the head of the company personally asked them to do this, that's not comparable to people trying to build something off of a kickstarter.

And of course there's also the fact that ignoring that CR started as a show on G&S is also why people have it in their heads that CR started off as the small, quaint little community that grew through the power of fanart (no seriously when they got rid of the art reel I saw people outright saying that they were responsible for CR's success and therefore CR owed them the art reel) and just word of mouth, which was someone corrupted into what it is now. When the reality is, it was always what it is, it just had less resources. The set and the equipment was the result of what they were willing to spend on a risk, and they got more resources as they became more and more of a hit. But people don't know how to reconcile their nostalgia with reality and so pretend that CR 'went corporate'.

Also the subtitles, people acting like they successfully bullied CR into doing captions when the reality that was G&S's decision when they were with them and CR did start working on it when they went independent.

[lowat-golden-tower]

lunar lights

So yes, I know this one's late. I've been working so much that I finally just passed out yesterday lol. But hey! To make up for it I'm posting Day 6's drabble as well!...which is also late. Shut up and enjoy it. :P

So, if you didn't know, Bill is from this and Enis is, of course, from this.

Why are they roommates? Well, blame the hefty amounts of ego discourse my friends and I share on Discord.

@alcordraws @kenmarlenn @galaxy-starheart

This one’s for you.

Goretober listing here.

Egotober listing here.

@ego-surveillance-squad

AO3 Mirror

Out of everything, Bill remembered the eyes.

Eyes once filled with friendliness, kindness, affection in some cases and respect in others. Blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes; the eyes of his beloved wife, the eyes of his neighbors and friends. Always brimming with warmth when they turned to him. Always glimmering with curiosity or mischief or pride. He never had enough to incite jealousy, and there wasn't a mean bone in his body to trigger dislike or hatred.

Bill never believed he would experience any of those emotions.

Yet he also remembered the fear, the suspicion, the paranoia. Pessimism and cynicism ruling the day with skepticism applying in all the wrong ways. People were dying. The town was utterly at wit's end and gnawing at the bit for a scapegoat; for an escape from their sudden torment.

Bill never thought he'd see that fear and distrust directed at him. Never thought he'd be the target of that anger and hate.

It wasn't even a new hat.

They ignored his cries, however. Dragging him off, convinced he was a killer; a murderer in their midst. He'd never given them a reason to doubt or to question but even his own wife, the woman he trusted more than anyone, the woman who knew him the very best believed him to be a monster.

Bill wasn't a monster. He just... had a condition. One that made him a dog on the full moon. That didn't mean he'd killed anybody!

That didn't stop him from being dragged onto the gallows. His pitiful cries and desperate pleas didn't stop them from wrapping a noose around his neck. He could still remember it now, buried in the depths of his mind, preferring to surface in the vulnerability of his dreams.

Eyes. So many eyes, all directed at him, all boiling over with hate and fury and a thirst for vengeance he didn't deserve to be sacrificed for. They surrounded him, jeered at him, and he couldn't escape.

No, not even in this space, away from his town and the villagers and his origins. Still he couldn't escape them and their accusing eyes and the sensation of the noose tightening around his neck. How they'd watched while he gasped and writhed as the life was slowly choked out of him. He still had the marks. They would never go away.

Whimpering and kicking and shuddering in wake of the nightmare, Bill found himself being carefully shaken awake. He snapped to consciousness with a vicious growl and several warning bites at empty air, his pupils fully dilated from the adrenalin.

The nightmares always came worse during a transformation.

"Hey. Hey. Shhh. Bill, Billy Bill, it's okay. It's okay, boy. I've got you. It's okay. You're safe. They're not here, I promise. Come on now. Deep breaths."

Bill whined, his ears lying flat and his tail tucking between his legs. The voice was familiar, though, and soon he was following its advice. Breathe in, breathe out. He could feel the gentle heat of the dying fire at his fluffy back. The small house he shared with Enis was dim in the very early hours of the morning. Besides the beginnings of birdsong, all was quiet. There were no jeers or shouts, no accusations, no eyes.

Well, one pair of eyes. Bill whined again, staring up into Enis's practically glowing blues. These eyes weren't filled with fear or hate. They held only concern, and affection, and a hint of relief. They were the eyes he used to see in his wife, his friends, his fellow villagers. Eyes he never thought he'd see again.

Giving a slight yowl, Bill's tail finally set to thumping on the ground. The big, brown Newfoundland got up and hunkered down across Enis's lap with a soft "whuff," causing the vampire to giggle.

Enis gently carded his fingers through Bill's soft fur and his tail continued to gently wag across the floor in response. "There you go. All better now, see? Enis is here. I've gotcha. Good boy. What a handsome, fluffy boy you are." He scrubbed at Bill's face and ears.

Bill whuffed appreciatively and licked Enis's hands. The nightmares were terrible, yes, and would likely keep haunting him. However, now he had a friend to help him get through them, and he knew this friend wouldn't turn his back on him. There would be no judgment or nooses or anything like that ever again. Here, in his home, he was safe with his friend.

He might reminisce on his old home and his old friends, but Bill wouldn't trade Enis for any of it.

[dougluberts]

“You’re Never Weird on the Internet” by Felicia Day (a quickie book review)

I've known Felicia since working as her (Unpaid) VFX Supervisor for Season 2 of "The Guild".

It just boggles the mind that someone who has built a self-described "Multi-million dollar empire" on the backs of unpaid labor can whine, bitch, and moan about how unfair she has been treated by everyone from the TV and Gaming Industries to the many fans (and former labor and talent) who have been burned by her strident over-stated sense of, I don't know, self.

In one chapter she goes from talking about how George Ruiz, her then agent, secured the Microsoft deal for "The Guild" that would allow her to keep full ownership of Intellectual Property rights for the show while having all production costs (plus some) paid by Microsoft in exchange for a first-play exclusive on XBox,, then announcing on every platform, from Late Night TV to every Podcast she could book, that this signaled a new day for creators who now would be compensated fairly while not being stripped of ownership of their work.

Fast forward to 2015ish, when she launched a vlog series of young creators who were expected, by Felicia, along with her co-producers Sherri and Kim, sign away all ownership to their work in perpetuity.

At one point she comments that she was proud that nobody working on The Guild Season Two would go unpaid. Hah! I'm calling Shenanigans there.

At the time the Microsoft Negotiations were going on, I was working through a three-week hiatus from my day job at a major VFX studio in the Bay Area, which extended from 3-weeks of 13 hour days to several weeks of after-work overtime to finish the big effects sequence at the end of the Season Finale where Codex dies a Warcraft-like death at the site of Zaboo making out with another girl.

My compensation? 

A DVD signed by the principal cast, while everyone on set got paid... Not a lot, but it was cash $US.

Felicia recognizes that her neuroses and various mental health disorders drives her neurotic behavior and has caused damage to key relationships, like the rift that arose between Felicia and her producing Partner Kim Evey Benson, during the early days of Geek & Sundry.

At the same time I feel disabused, as many of Felicia Day's former "volunteers" (who had no idea we were signing on to something that was going to make Felicia and her "Key People" good money, I also feel sorry for Felicia, as she is lost in her own world of Pop Culture issues and squeezing every drop of blood from anyone who will help her.

Felicia quotes the often misattributed statement, "The only thing necessary for Evil to succeed is for good men (and women) to do nothing, yet she will burn anyone who stands up to her, or her equally morally-bereft and ethically bankrupt D-List Hollyweird fans.

She neglects to mention facts like her Director and Editor for Season 2-5 of the Guild wound up homeless and destitute after leaving Geek & Sundry.

Meanwhile, Kim, Sherri, and Felicia set up multiple shell companies to avoid/evade paying union benefits to anyone but their "preferred" talent.

Thanks for the memories, Felicia, oh, and for the two lunches and DVD... The DVD is going on eBay with the rest of my "The Guild" swag, as Disability isn't paying the bills, and I need to cash in on the only benefits I received from helping you build your Flagship product. More in depth on dougluberts.com later...

[keekafeefa]

WIRED recently did a video with @markiplier about his impact on the internet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKUZQzfNYsQ)

One of their questions was about Mark’s “Ego’s” or “Personalities” that he has created over the years. The number they said seemed right, but the personalities they chose... some, as Mark pointed out, were not accurate. So! I have decided to create a list of all of Mark’s Ego’s that I can find.

Darkiplier/Damien

Wilford Warfstache/William J. Barnum

Bim Trimmer

Googleplier (Blue, Red, Yellow, Green)

Bingiplier

Mini Bingiplier

The Author/The Host

Dr. Iplier

Ed Edgar

The Silver Shepherd

Eric Derekson

Derek Derekson

Randall Vorhees

Santa Claus

Yandereplier

The King of the Squirrels

The Jim Twins: WKM (Cameraman Jim, Feild Reporter Jim)

The Jim Twins: MTV (Weatherman Jim, Newscaster Jim)

Yancy

Captain Magnum

Illinois James

Heistiplier

The Actor

Harold B. Darrensworth

Captain Falcon (Random Encounters: My Date with Captain Falcon)

Resident Enis Mark (Random Encounters: Resident Enis)

FNAF Mark (Random Encounters: FNAF the musical)

The Devil (Random Encounters: Cuphead the Musical)

Mark Bop (Markiplier TV)

Date-iplier (A Date With Markiplier)

Septiplier (Markiplier TV)

Babyplier

Dr. Plier (My Therapist, Dr. Plier)

Chef Iplier

Dave (Edge of Sleep) Note: Not an “ego” but still a character Mark has played

Paranormal Investigator (Drowned Man)

Cool Patrol Mark (Cool Patrol)

5.0.5. (Villanous) Note: Not an “ego” but still a character Mark has played

Stan Wheeler. Stan the Water Man

Goopiplier (How to make Slime)

Potato Plier (Mashed Potato Bath Tub)

Frank (Pixel Cops)

Brian (The Dangers Of Binge Watching: A PSA by The Station)

Bill (Werewolves by Geek and Sundry)

Dad (Honest Frosted Flakes Commercial)

Opinion Minion (The Opinion Minions)

Elder Jeremiah (The Mormons)

Ludwig Von BallingCrusher (Super Squat Simulator)

SCP-M.A.R.K.I.P.L.I.E.R. (Self-Designated SCP name)

Unga Bunga (The Forest)

[crtranslate]

So what is the actual process for translating the show? I'm not seeing a FAQ page anywhere and feel a little lost about what's even going on here 😅

Okay, I am sorry t took us so long to get back to you, your question is a bit broad and we were not sure how to answer it. First, we do have an F.A.Q, right here: https://crtranslate.tumblr.com/FAQ (bit.ly/CRT_FAQdoc for mobile users)and you might find all of your answers there.

Second, the technical how-to is pretty well developed in our translation instructions which you will find here: bit.ly/CRT_InstructionsBut while I’m here, let me get through the general system we have.Volunteer translator will translate the episodes (CR campaign 1 and/or 2; One Shots; Handbooker Helper) by working on five-minute chunks - which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours to translate, depending on the chunk, language and proficiency of the translator.Then another translator will come in and double check the work and give pointer wherever they find it pertinent. And after that someone (ideally a third translator, native in the target language) will go through the chunk one last time making sure it all flows well and that there are no grammar or spelling errors left.This is where the translators' job ends. The CRT staff, usually the team’s supervisor, will export the translated subtitles and we’ll send them across to Critical Role or Geek&Sundry depending on the project in question.

For practicality reasons, the translation documents live on google sheets and most of the translation work is usually done directly there. But nothing forbids you to work offline and then upload your chunk onto the sheet once it is done.All the links to all the sheets are on what we call the “Master Link List”.

I hope this answers your question·s if you have any more of them and neither the instructions nor the F.A.Q answers them you can send us another ask, we’ll be quicker next time I promise, an email or contact us on social media (links to all of those are pretty much everywhere. Or even better, join our Discord where you’ll be able to discuss with the staff or other translators directly. I guarantee speedy answers there.

See you soon and happy translating.Bill.

[acepalindrome]

Would anyone like a Geek&Sundry subscription?

Hey Critters, did any of you miss the very dramatic and emotional stream last night and don’t have a subscription, so now you’ll have to wait until Monday to scream and cry with everyone? Well, today is pay day and I feel generous, so I’m gonna give a subscription to the first five people to reply to this post! Just give me your Twitch ID and I’ll get your subscription sent over! Please no more than five, I do still have to use my paycheck for groceries and the electric bill.

Edit: I’m up to five, hope you guys enjoy! I don’t know how long it takes for gifted subs to go through but if you haven’t received it after a while or if something’s not working just drop me a line and we’ll try to figure it out! I’ve never gifted subs before so it’s entirely possible I screwed something up lol

[stringnarratives]

Making a Critical Hit: “Critical Role”

[This post brought to you with major spoilers for campaigns 1 and 2 of Critical Role. Editing and research help for this post by Brady Wallace and John Masserini. ]

“When the livestream begins every Thursday evening, not even many-voiced dungeon master Matthew Mercer (who you may recognize as the voice of Overwatch's McCree, for one) knows precisely where the adventure will go, or if everyone will survive.”

Tyler Wilde, “Permadeath and D&D: The pain of losing a character, and why it can be great”

Nearly every Thursday night since March of 2015, fans of Critical Role have logged onto Twitch to watch the show that bills itself as “a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors playing Dungeons and Dragons.” The show’s first campaign, narrated and run by Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer, followed the adventures of a ragtag (if deeply emotionally damaged) group of misfits calling themselves Vox Machina - played by voice actors Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham - as they defended the mythical realm of Tal’Dorei. For two years, fans watched as the party defeated dragons, traversed other planes and trash whole cities as they thwart evil, and were eager to kick off the second campaign, following The Mighty Nein, in January of 2018. 

To say the show has evolved since it first aired four years ago would be, frankly, understating matters entirely. 

What started off as a tabletop role playing game among friends in LA became a featured show on Geek and Sundry’s multimedia lineup, which in turn became its own studio with Critical Role spin-off shows, parallel programming, and a record-breaking $11.38 million Kickstarter campaign for its own animated series. The Critical Role Youtube channel has, at the time of writing, amassed 37.6 million views on its videos since it launched in May of 2018 and the Twitch channel has more than 277,000 followers. 

But as the community has grown, as the studio introduces more and more exciting projects, and the hype continues to build, two things keep viewers coming back week after week: The compelling story and the people who create it, both of which contribute to Critical Role being an occurrence of “live” narrative that exists in few other contexts. 

It is, quite literally, unpredictable.

The show is purposefully unscripted other than DM Matt Mercer’s world-building and overarching plot, though even these things may change depending on character reactions, which are primarily reliant on character personalities and improvised player decisions. A character is totally within their rights to jump off a cliff and plummet to their doom if they so decide (and they have before), though they all -- to our knowledge and the knowledge of the other players, at least -- have the singular goal of pushing forward with whatever adventure they have been tasked. 

As players have little foresight into what will happen, this means that character action is very frequently reaction. Details in the world which might be informative could go wholly unnoticed by characters, and just because a path exists doesn’t mean the players will take it. At the beginning of Campaign 2, Fjord (played by Travis Willingham) is on his way to study at the Soltryce Academy to further his magical learning when he encounters the other party members for the first time. However, after a kidnapping, a death and plenty of other wild occurrences, by episode 30, he indicates that he has changed his mind and has decided not to find the school. The character motivation changes in reaction to in-game events and, while potentially not unexpected for the audience, this decision snips otherwise yet-to-be-fulfilled ends of the storyline. In a memorable example from the 30th episode of Campaign 1, Scanlan Shorthalt (played by Sam Riegel), improvises a plan to break into a mansion by polymorphing into a triceratops and bursting through the roof. 

All of that to say, Mercer as the DM ultimately has more knowledge about what could happen than what will happen, but is reliant on the actions and reactions of the characters to carry it out.

Not only is there an element of structured improvisation that makes the show unpredictable to the viewer, but the reliance of tabletop gaming on dice rolls to further plot and determine character outcomes can make for quite a surprise. As 20-sided dice rolls modified by character statistics are the primary basis for many actions in Dungeons and Dragons, there is often very little indication ahead of time what dice rolls will be fortunate and which ones will not be.

This is where math comes in. In an odd and cyclical coincidence, one of the most clear mathematical and scientific explanations I’ve found for this actually comes from an article from the National Center for Biotechnology Information database, which, at the end, credits Critical Role for introducing the author to the concept of rolling a D20 with advantage. In “Multiple statistical tests: Lessons from a d20,″ Christopher R. Madan breaks down the likelihood of achieving any number on a 20-sided dice (with a nice chart for my fellow visual learners). 

“In the current (fifth) edition of Dungeons & Dragons, a tabletop game, many in-game events are determined based on the outcome of a d20. However, to make some events more likely, there are times when players roll a d20 ‘with advantage’, meaning that they roll the d20 twice and take the greater value... For d = 20, i.e., a 20-sided die, the probability of obtaining any specific outcome is 120 or .05. If n = 2 dice are rolled, the probability of obtaining at least one 20 is 39400 or .0975. If n = 10 dice are rolled, the probability of obtaining at least one 20 is ≈ .4013. With n = 20 dice, this increases further to ≈ .6415.”

Any player has a  5% chance of rolling any given number on a fair, 20-sided die. (You can do the math on Critical Role’s rolls here and here, thanks to CritRoleStats.) The result of fight scenes (death, near-death, injury) are reliant on these dice rolls, making scripting these major narrative events impossible. Perhaps the most notable recent example of a plot-bending dice roll occurs in the notorious 26th episode of Campaign 2, in which Mollymauk Tealeaf (played by Taliesin Jaffe) knocks himself unconscious after attempting to cast a blood curse on an enemy, who - unaffected - then kills him.

In a PC Gamer article “Permadeath and D&D: The pain of losing a character, and why it can be great,” Tyler Wilde discusses Mollymauk’s death in the same terms of unpredictability versus other forms of narrative media: 

“A scripted show would probably not have casually rolled Jaffe's character, a carnival performer named Mollymauk and a favorite subject of cosplayers and fan artists, into a shallow grave just 26 episodes in. And neither would that show include a scene in which the actor is told they've been written off.“

This death being permanent (at least up until the time of writing) created an echo of trauma throughout the party, changing attitudes and realigning intentions in surviving members, from Yasha (played by Ashley Johnson) fleeing out of grief to others seeking revenge on Lorenzo (played by Mercer), the villain in question.

 And while both Campaigns of Critical Role take place in a setting where magic has the power to resurrect the dead, this too may have - and frequently does have - some sort of balancing cost. In the 44th episode of Campaign 1, Vex'ahlia (played by Laura Bailey) is killed in an attempt to recover a legendary set of armor from an underwater tomb. With the help of others in the party, her twin brother Vax'ildan (played by Liam O’Brien) manages to revive her, but only after pledging himself to be a Champion of the Raven Queen, a goddess of death. This, in turn, adds a new level of complication and motivation to Vax’s character, which is reflected through the rest of the campaign.

For roughly three and a half hours most weeks (not including breaks), fans of the show are at the mercy of statistical, individual and emotional variance, and have been since 2015. The campaign-based continuity of Critical Role doesn’t have the breaks common in the “season” of other broadcast series media, running year-round with the exception of major American holidays and the occasional rest week. Campaign 1 had 115 episodes in its main continuum airing from 2015-2017 (although the game had gone on for longer than that before broadcasting) and Campaign 2 has racked up 63 episodes at the time of writing since it started in January of 2018. 

On one hand, having a non-traditional “season” format gives Critical Role a lot more temporal wiggle room for building out the narrative and a resulting viewer connection. A show lasting 3.5 hours on average and airing 35 episodes a year for 3 years adds up to about 367.5 hours (or 15 days) of narrative content over those 3 years alone. According to a CritRoleStats count featured in the latest episode of Critical Role commentary show Talks Machina, the show and its one-shot episodes have aired for more than 800 hours total. For comparison, Bingeclock.com estimates that it would take around 3 days to watch all 8 seasons of “Game of Thrones”, 5 days and 1 hour to watch all 10 seasons of Friends, and 18 days to watch all 31 seasons of Mister Roger’s Neighborhood. Having such long episodes and long campaigns not only allows for Mercer and the cast to delve deeper into the details of the world and inner workings of each character. As the players’ perspectives and style change in real life, so do the characters themselves and how the audience relates to each in the context of the the overarching narrative. What results is a feeling that the viewer too has been on a journey full of unexpected twists and turns.

On a more minute level (no pun intended), the timing of the game may also contribute to the emotional highs and lows of each episode. While rounds of combat may each last 6 seconds in the world of the game, an involved battle may take more than an hour of play time and particularly tense skirmishes can see audience pressure rise until the last enemy has fallen. Tension is, especially during combat-heavy episodes, unavoidable, but there is some promise that if the heroes make it through, we’ll all be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

From the unpredictability of dice-rolls to the long-term evolution of characters and plot, Critical Role exemplifies the unique draw of live broadcast tabletop gaming: A well-woven narrative with simply too many variables to be truly scripted. From the time that the camera begins to roll to the last seconds of each episode, neither the players nor the audience can predict the twists and turns the characters will encounter. Every skirmish may be someone’s last. Every decision may put our heroes on a new path. And as the story unfolds week by week, all any of us can do is wait patiently for the next Thursday to roll around.

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E4 (Feb 6, 2018)

Oh no.

Tonight’s guests are Sam Riegel, Liam O’Brien, and Marisha Ray!

New opening sequence by @wendydoodles! In true episode-50 fashion, they play it twice in a row because it’s so much fun.

Ashley accidentally calls Brian during the show, so he picks up and puts her on speakerphone.

Announcements: issue four of Vox Machina: Origins is out, the podcast will be updated with episode 4 on Thursday, tomorrow at 9:30 Pacific is a new G&S show called Weave Society (a team-up of Mines N Crafts and AXYB).

@critrolestats for episode 4!

Nott has stolen 8 items since the campaign began. Liam adds to the list: “The audience’s heart.”

20% of die rolls in this episode were single-digit even after mods. By comparison, episode 3 was only 17%. By further comparison, C1E114 was only 3.9%. Le-vel two! Le-vel two!

Sam and Liam get kicked out while Brian asks Marisha questions about her solo scene last week. The show briefly turns into Marisha and Brian dissing Sam’s clothes.

Marisha had pretty much decided on the Cobalt Soul route ahead of time, since it was part of her backstory: running away from the Cobalt Reserve monks.

There was some temptation to say no to the offer, especially when the speeches got a bit more flowery. Marisha: “Beau was sitting there like *jerk-off motion*.” It took the punch to really get her attention.

Marisha is a little concerned that the group is starting to view Beau as a liability (in a different way than Keyleth was), but she also points out that pretty much the whole group is a liability right now. She thinks it makes sense for Matt to pull in Beau’s backstory first, just to give her a more profound reason to stick around.

Beau is partly just trying to learn new moves, but she’s also motivated by her new mentor being a “hot elf monk”.

Beau’s "fuck-it” attitude is partly related to some deeper backstory stuff, but also motivated in part by rebellion against her rich dad.

Gif of the week: Matt losing it over Nott’s zero-deception roll.

All Sam and Liam know about Beau’s scene was a muffled yell of “I’M GONNA PUNCH YOUR FACE” and two natural twenties. Liam suspects Matt and Marisha were just paying bills. Marisha: “In our new segment sponsored by H&R Block...”

Sam has been rewearing his shirts in order from the first campaign, but he was absent in episode 5, so now he’s not sure what to do. He likes the idea of going topless, but “we want to retain viewers”. Marisha suggests a chroma key green shirt that can be photoshopped at will.

Sam is impressed that so much of the party managed to buy drugs four episodes in when it took Scanlan so long. Liam: “I guess you’re just bad at Dungeons & Dragons.”

Caleb knew he and Nott would be able to fake their way through the bathhouse with confidence. Sam: “Do you have a wealthy past?” Liam: “No, I’m a mermaid werewolf.”

Sam thinks that Jester’s backstory is that there is no backstory. It’s all just on the surface.

Art of the week: a gorgeous boulder-parchment-shears attack for Beau.

The intense focus on bathing was originally to mess with Laura, but now Liam’s coming up with a justification for it. There is absolutely no salt whatsoever over the cast latching onto the stinky thing to the extent they did. Not even a little bit. Nope.

Nott is not especially enthused about water.

Marisha has had fencing, stage combat, Krav Maga, little bit of taekwondo, boxing, tai chi, bo staff, quarterstaff, European fighting stick. She’s interested in different fighting styles and how they came about.

Liam and Sam share their different stories about how Sam picked goblin rogue. Sam: “I feel like we’re in a fight.” Liam: “All I hear is aerators.”

Caleb saved Nott’s life in the prison they escaped from; Sam emphasizes that Nott is extremely concerned about his well-being. “She’s seen him almost die a bunch. He is dainty.”

Liam and Matt have talked about specific spells Caleb’s interested in, including a tiny bit of homebrew. Sam asks if the new spells he learned are a part of what he’s been working towards. Liam, avoiding the question entirely: “Hmm. Interesting.”

Caleb and Nott have been "getting fucked up running shitty little cons for a while now.” Caleb’s been wanting to find people who were level-headed and could help out, and so, failing that, he gravitated towards Fjord as someone who at least seems a bit more rational (”I know he’s an asshole too”). He’s also excited to get a chance to riff off Travis more often in this campaign. The words “actor boner” come up and are inevitably mined for high comedy.

Sam mentions that we’ve seen a bit of Nott’s personality quirks that made her an outcast from her particularly bloodthirsty clan of goblins, but any further details of her backstory will play out in the game.

Sam reveals that Nott has been gifted flowers in the past. Brian: “What was her reaction?” Sam: “She ate them.”

Talks Machina Popcorns Machina on Alpha:

Everything is temporarily derailed when Marisha swats a fly into her drink.

There is already half-werewolf half-mermaid art of Caleb from earlier in the show.

Items from the last campaign they wish they had? Liam wants the Displacement Cloak. Sam wants the Tome of Leadership so Nott can get some charisma (it would put her all the way up to 7). Marisha points out that Keyleth was going to use it after a hundred years, so Liam starts plotting a heist... where they’ll have to wait 80 years after stealing it to use it. Sam: “Oh wait, goblins only live 45 years.” Marisha wants an Immovable Rod. Sam wants a Bag of Holding. Marisha wants the healing potions she didn’t use last time.

Marisha on the women in the party having the highest strength scores: “It’s dope as fuck.”

Bad travel habits: Caleb will want to go to bookstores constantly. Everyone agrees that Jester’s the kind of person who’ll want to stop every time she sees anything remotely interesting.

Sam and Liam are both having a really hard time picking their options for level 3. Marisha’s a little more laid-back: “Combat class!” She already knows what she’s doing.

Things, as they do, get a little out of hand when Sam suggests a key party. Liam gets up and leaves the studio. Sam: “You said we could make a snuff film!” Brian, talking over the Geek and Sundry logo at the end: “PLEASE END IT.” It’s about par for the course, really.

[bing-iplier]

Who is bill the werewolf?

What a delightful question! Lemme answer it for you!

Back a long time ago, 2014 actually, Mark did a skit with some famous people for Geek & Sundry

In this skit he plays a character called Bill, and, well- You’ll have to watch the skit to see exactly what happens ;)

Link down below!

https://youtu.be/4cIK6Kyn3NM

[geekandsundry]

https://geekandsundry.com/the-wednesday-clubs-comic-picks-once-upon-a-wednesday/

The Wednesday Club is Geek & Sundry’s weekly talk show chatting about all things comics. This week, hosts Taliesin Jaffe, Matt Key, and Amy Dallen talked about Fables, which wrapped up its 150 issue run in 2015. Fables, the compelling twist on fairy tales created by Bill Willingham, follows...

[justwritingscibbles]

People are talking about a werewolf ego for Mark but ya'll forgot about Bill the Werewolf from the video WEREWOLVES by Geek & Sundry. Ya'll are breaking my heart, man. This ego barely gets noticed and now everyone's creating a new werewolf ego when Mark already technically has one.

Greek and Sundry? And I definitely didn’t know there was already a werewolf Iplier (other then others personal characters based on Markiplier.)

[elite-guard-hardygal]

Other Stuff Featuring Markiplier: Masterlist Followup

I will admit, this list is being made out of some degree of annoyance. There is a reason I didn't include the following videos/characters in my Markiplier Characters: Ultimate Video Masterlist. The videos/characters on that list had to follow this criteria:

The character featured has to be made by Mark (as in the case of Wilford Warfstache or Jim)

If the character is not made by Mark, Mark needs to have featured the character at least once in his own skits (as in the case of Ed Edgar or the Host, both of whom were created by Cyndago)

But so many of you guys were asking for other skits featuring Mark that did not follow the above criteria... So, here's a whole separate list of video skits that do not follow the above criteria. If Mark has any of these characters feature in any of his own future skits, then I will add them to the masterlist. This list does have its own criteria, that being:

Whatever character Mark is playing has to be obviously separate from his identity as a YouTuber - For instance, the Mark from Resident Enis would be on this list, but the Mark from How To Beat A Monkey At Chess or Popcorn would not - The reason for this is because otherwise this list would be waaaayyyy longer than I'm willing to put time into

That's pretty much it. If you guys think I missed a video for this list, please tell me :3 Let's get this show on the road!

Cyndago

The Mormons - Elder Jeremiah is here to share the good word and certainly not to steal your stuff! (Oct 21, 2013)

Electronic Farts - Bonesaw is here with other EA representatives to tell you how friggin' awesome EA is! (Jul 9, 2014)

Random Encounters

My Date With Captain Falcon (Feat. Markiplier & Nikasaur) (PARODY SONG) - Captain Falcon is here with his mariachi band to bring Nika Harper on the date of her life! (Jul 18, 2014)

RESIDENT ENIS: Halloween Song (Music Feat. Markiplier and Dodger) - Hijinks ensue when monster survivors Mark and Dodger hide out in a mansion owned by a sparkly vampire named Enis (Oct 27, 2014)

Resident Enis 2: Monster Gulch (Feat. Markiplier and Dodger) | Disney XD by Maker - In this sequel to Resident Enis, Mark, Dodger, and Enis hide out in a presumably abandoned bandit shack (Feb 2, 2016)

FNaF The Musical-The Complete Series (Live Action feat. Markiplier, Nathan Sharp, & MatPat) - Mark is hired as a night guard at the infamous Freddy Fazbear's Pizza; what could possibly go wrong? (Jul 30, 2016)

Ninja Sex Party

Peppermint Cream - NSP - Look, I'm not all that into Ninja Sex Party, so I don't know what's happening here, but Mark appears as a god (Nov 19, 2014)

6969 - NSP - Yeah, I have no clue what's going on in this music video, but Mark appears briefly as a newscaster in the background, so there's that (Sep 8, 2016)

Cool Patrol - NSP - The Cool Patrol is here to teach the new kid through instructional dance; Mark appears as one of the Cool Patrol members (Oct 18, 2016)

Eating Food In The Shower - NSP - Yup, still don't know what's happening, but Mark shows up! (Feb 16, 2017)

Other

Honest Frosted Flakes Commercial (feat. Markiplier) - A dad and his son sit down to a nice bowl of Frosted Flakes, unaware of the danger that awaits them in this commercial by Nice Piece (Oct 1, 2013)

Dangers of Binge Watching: A PSA (Featuring Markiplier) - Binge watching ruins lives, as Brian's life will show us in this PSA by The STATION by MAKER (Mar 31, 2014)

WEREWOLVES Starring Kate Micucci, Felicia Day, and Jeff Lewis - HALLOWEEK - In this skit by Geek and Sundry, the residents of a sleepy town discuss who to hang next after yet another one of their neighbors is killed by the as of yet unhung werewolf; Mark appears as a farmer named Bill (Oct 31, 2014)

Pixel Cops (ft. Markiplier & CaptainSparklez) - In this skit by RocketJump, a cop and his partner pursue a killer, and- Oh, he's dead now, so I hope you weren't expecting much (Jul 23, 2015)

[sweetfarmerbill]

Hey what video is Bill from? I really wanna watch it

WEREWOLVES by Geek&Sundryhttps://youtu.be/4cIK6Kyn3NMEnjoy, darlin!