#kollok show

[notdamien]

hello tumblr dash i made a new tiktok mutual recently who is a kollok fan and meeting them urged me to finally begin my kollok rewatch and i'm so happy to have kollok content on my algorithms and in my life again i miss this show so much

[jackaycola]

Kollok stuff…. don’t tell Zac I told y’all.

[perksofbeingahalfie]

The most insane conversation to happen was between season 2 and 3 when synchroniety caught/experimented on sketchy and Marcus went to talk to him

[funcharted]

way more people need to watch kollok 1991

[shelbygraces]

Hiiii

So I know its really old but I've been hyperfixating on Kollok 1991 HARD for the past eleven days and I think I'm suffering from withdrawals now that I've finished?

I was just wondering, is there anything you haven't shared about Mickey - or just anything, really - that you would be willing to? You totally dont have to if you don't wanna, I just figured id try :D

Also I love your work <3

(sorry if this is weird and long I don't do asks and am full of fear)

I've shared this on stream before but you may not have heard it. Somewhere in my journal for Mickey I wrote what her dream was, and I don't think we ever shared these on the show. Mickey's dream was to get through high school, get herself a car and a dog, and leave Kollok forever. She wanted to drive as far as she could, and then she wanted to go to college. She didn't know what for yet though. I actually just skimmed through my journal and i had no idea the similarities between Life is Strange and Kollok. We have our own missing Rachel, who's actually dead the whole time, and in my journal I wrote that Mickey and Rachel would have sleep overs all the time, to hide from our crazy families. We had a relationship just like Chloe and Rachel, and Mickey was just as much a self destructive crash out teen. But she still had plans for her future. I also have a bunch of journal entries from young Mickey before they moved to Kollok to give her backstory. It'd be a lot, but would you guys want me to upload all her journal entries somewhere? Also go watch Kollok if you like Life is Strange :)

[utilitycaster]

What do you mean (from your latest post) that you think that many actual play failures are failures of ambition?

Usually, when an actual play show doesn't click for me, it's because the GM or players aimed very high or tried to push the boundaries (of the medium or system) and it didn't quite land right. It's a pretty new medium, and while I've been very openly disparaging of how much many writers in the AP space focus overmuch on novelty over consistent quality, I do think these failures are important! I think it's good to play with what the medium can be! I just think that sometimes, it does indeed fail.

Examples off the top of my head:

Too much plot for allotted length: EXU Prime was fun to watch but I think this plot really needed to be a 16-20 episode season, not an 8 episode one, which meant that we never really learned Myr'atta's motivation or the deal with Ted until years later in the real world despite that being the core plot. Similar issues have come up with various D20 seasons; I think running a one- or two- session story isn't too hard to do, or running a longform campaign isn't too hard to do, but 8 or 10 or 20 episodes can be really difficult to plan for properly, and a lot of people overfill.

Trying to bend the system too far: I wrote a long-ass post I cannot find about this for a few D20 seasons as well (notably Neverafter) and I've fallen off of WBN for a few reasons but in part because it really increasingly feels like D&D is the wrong system - the classes of D&D support the worldbuilding, but the pace and style and magic system of D&D increasingly feel like they and the narrative are in conflict.

Trying to fit in An Important Message: the infamous Rusty Quill Gaming Everything Changes [now make a monumental decision we have not once explored in 7 real world years of telling this story, in the last half of the last episode] is a big one here. This is not unique to AP (this is why Battlestar Galactica's ending is widely panned) but I think the nature of actual play makes it more likely because to some extent you as the GM must relinquish a good degree of control.

Not realizing what you need to plan for: ultimately, in my opinion, the failure of Campaign 3. I don't think the problem is that Matt wanted to bring everything together across multiple campaigns; I don't think this is a cheap setup with a pre-determined outcome (though I could be proven wrong); I think the problem is that there needed to be a much more stringent character creation process and on-rails early plot to actually get from point A to point B in a way that felt natural within the story.

Trying to break production value records while neglecting story: With the caveat that I hated nearly every second of the hour of Kollok I watched, I have yet to see a review that talks about anything it does other than how good the production values are (*whisper* they're not even that good). Burrow's End had some really good aesthetic/filming choices and some really not good ones on top of having a story I found weak; the season of Candela Obscura I thought had the strongest story had no split-screen film edits. This could just be that my AP introduction was TAZ Balance followed by simultaneous C1 and early C2, but like...I've heard incredible actual play with no music and no fancy lighting and no sound effects and no official character art, and I've watched some heavily produced stuff that had the plot of a fucking Ed Wood movie and was utterly joyless to boot. Story first; accessibility production values (clean and clear sound, transcripts, making all speakers visible if you're a filmed production) second; anything else should ONLY come after that.

[the-god-of-night]

Ooohhh Night! It’s time! Come out and show me your costume darling! Then I’ll show you mine~

@god-of-charm-kollok

Night couldn’t help but have a small smile on his lips when he heard charm call for him. The god walked out of his house in this

He had two little bite marks on his neck with gold liquid coming out of them.

[to-be-a-dreamer]

“Separate the art from the artist” is what you say when you still find joy in art that was created by a person who has done something harmful, but their art isn’t directly tied to their actions as a person, so you find ways to privately enjoy it without directly supporting them. It is not something you say to make yourself feel better about directly financially supporting a person who admitted to physical domestic abuse (which is an actual literal crime that people go to jail for, not some kind of petty internet discourse that a notes app apology can fix) just because you can’t stand to let go of your favorite mediocre white boy.

A streamer is not the kind of artist you can separate from the art. Music is another thing but if you’re able to listen to a man sing about being a toxic partner while knowing what he’s done you may need to spend some time unpacking that. And if you’re one of the people who found comfort in using his content as a form of escapism before you knew about all of this, I’m sorry and I know this must be hard to come to terms with but that’s something you need to deal with in private and it’s not an excuse to continue giving a platform to an abuser.

Always believe victims and go support Shelby! She’s been my favorite Minecraft content creator for years and she’s amazing at what she does! Her YouTube and streaming content is great and I’m also a big fan of her work on Kollok 1991 and The Unleashed, which are TTRPG shows if that’s something you’re into! Kollok is a lot more gritty and definitely not PG (think Stranger Things but with more of a horror element) and the Unleashed is like a comic-book super heroes series that’s a little more similar vibes to her usual content. (Featuring an all LGBTQ+ cast and GMed by Aabria Iyengar!) The Unleashed is pretty short for a TTRPG series and a great place to start if you’ve never seen that kind of thing before!

[akainferno]

@ Aimsey (and Aimsey fans)

PLEASE WATCH KOllOK PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE YOU WILL BE OBSESSED WITH IT OH MY GOD PLEASE I PROMISE YOU'LL LOVE IT PLEASE WATCH IT PLEASE

(OK, but, like, genuinely, KOllOK seems like the kind of show that would be right up Aimsey's alley, especially with how much they love Life is Strange and other similar media, as well as just the types of characters they tend to get attached to and the characters they create themself. KOllOK is so perfect for them)

For anyone wanting to get into it, the chronological timeline of the full series is

"Ten Candles" -> "The Playtest" -> "KOllOK 1991" -> "KOllOK 1991: Bleach" -> "KOllOK"

and here's a link to a playlist I made for the full series in that order

HOWEVER, I (and most KOllOK fans) recommend that first-timers watch in this order

"KOllOK 1991" -> "KOllOK 1991: Bleach" -> "KOllOK" -> "Ten Candles" <--> "The Playtest"

So just pick whichever you'd prefer :)

[doggogills-but-worse]

okay listen. i love jrwi, i really do. i love riptide and prime defenders, and the community has been pretty good, i have a lot of mutuals that are super cool. but the attitude and ferocity in which people defend the lgbt rep in the show? mh. not it.

podcasts as a medium have been incredibly full of queer creators making wonderful stories, including ttrpgs. especially ttrpgs!!! most of jrwi’s lgbt rep has been behind a paywall (and that was a joke for 90% of the series), or a joke (i’m looking at you fnc canon kiss), and the rest is vaguely implied. correct me if i’m wrong on this, i’m not caught up. i don’t really care about what the folks say off mic about characters, to be quite honest. there has been little indication of the actual queerness of characters in any form beside an npc who wasn’t even fully created by the showrunners. and that is my point. the lgbt stuff that people latch onto are things that have either been questions answered off mic, or things that the fan community has expanded upon that were only hinted at in canon, or just headcanoned.

im not saying that this is wrong, or the series is bad because of it, but the attitude that the fandom has towards it is... a lot for what is actually there on screen in earnest. it’s not the most lgbt podcast with fantastic rep that you say it is. there are so many podcasts with the kind of representation and characters that you are looking for. again, it’s not a bad podcast because of this, but we’ve gotta stop acting like it’s queer as hell.

so here are some podcasts with fully fleshed out, explicitly queer characters (with their corresponding vibe):

Dungeons & Daddies (s1: riptide, s2: pd)

The Broadswords (apotheosis)

All My Hexes (admittedly unfinished but still good)

A Horror Borealis (bitb)

Bombarded (riptide)

Fantasy High (of course) (pd)

Wildbranch High (pd)

Kollok 1991 (pd, bitb)

Monster Hour (s1: pd, kinda apotheosis)

$2 Creature Feature (pd)

Dice Crisis (riptide)

Hope’s Hearth (i haven’t started this one yet, but it’s on my list)

The Storyteller Squad (pd)

Dangerous Times at Chillhaven High (soooo much pd vibes)

Shrimp and Crits (bitb)

Pest Control (s1: riptide but modern, s2: early pd)

The Unexplored Places (they have many seasons, i can rant about them for hours tbh)

The Monster’s Playbook (pd, kinda bitb)

and that’s just the actual plays

again, i love jrwi, but we have got to stop hailing it as an exemplar of lgbt actual play podcasts because it just isn’t.

[isabelopaque]

hi katie is kollok worth getting into ^-^ i heard good things about it like 4-5 years ago? and was interested but never got around to it . also imsaying this but just know that there’s a 95% chance i will not actuallyfinish it Sorry

HIII!!!!! i like it a Lot. Its more serious/horror focused and can seem kind of pretentious in comparison to jrwi but i think. Rightfullt so? Its really well written in a way a lot of trrpg shows arent. I compare it vaguely to taz:b as the plot twists in like s2 two years after the first episode theres a plot twist related to it that is planned out entirely in advance and hits hard. Theres also really good rep id say? One of the main 4 pcs from the first ep ends up being a wheelchair user and it doesnt get magicked away and shes still super badass. Also canon aro character! Blowsa kiss to the sky. I love you billy baker. It's prob my favorite ttrpg series of all time ever but its kind of hard t jump into initially. Hopefully this is somewhat helpful. This isnt saying its Never offensive but id say its. Leagues better than jrwi in terms of actual care into its characters

[forget-mad-not]

is the coming back era happening? its been long 🥺

It's definitely on the way, even if mostly in the background for now! I'm heartwarmed by your firm but still patience, whoever you are, thank you very much! Unfortunately, it takes time, like everything else, if you have just a little bit of confidence, and even that comes in like the tides - rushing forward and then receding. (Writing itself can indeed be like riding a bike, but you still need to get your muscles in gear, and, as you said it, I haven't done that in such a long time now. But we are making progress. It helps a lot that @mindemenyedelmem lets me spend Saturday afternoons on the couch in their apartment, banging on the mental brick wall of the writer's block. And by 'let' I mean they usually 'insist'.)

So. To show my gratitude, under the cut I've collected a few snippets from some of the writings I've started. Some new, some ancient, but generally these are the stories I've been thinking about lately and haven't shared yet (I reserve the right to change them, of course). If you're interested in any of these in more detail, or... You know, if you're not interested in any of them and would rather know something else, feel free to write again, dear asker, I'm happy to ramble, it motivates me too! :"D

TLDR; the coming back era is still coming (... heh). ✨

Who Killed Markiplier? - KOllOK | God of Day/Celine (Soline)

Jacksepticeye - IRIS | Dr. Henrik von Schneeplestein/Antisepticeye (Antistein)

Genshin Impact | Dottore/Pantalone (Dottolone)

Honkai: Star Rail | Sunday/Gallagher (Galladay) | alternate universe

Genshin Impact | Neuvillette/Wriothesley (Wriollette) | alternate universe

Naturally, there are dozens of other story seeds sprouting in my head, because I've never had a problem with ideas. These are just the ones I can show you actual sentences for.

Also, my very pretty Notion page for these things:

(Sorry, but I'm quite proud of how shiny and aesthetic it looks. :"D)

[captainschaos]

> NEW GAME > the tide rolls in. > add <CAPTAIN> as PLAYER 2?

♤ names: lots, chip, captain, or pitch, among my hoard ♤ pronouns: she/he + sil/ver + any/mirror

I'm the core of the house of cards- we're plural. you can use it/thon for the collective, or just call us the house/cards. other frequent faces are below the cut

we mostly reblog and ramble in tags a lot, but also write, draw, do game design, and other occasional arts! <3

mainly posting [LIFESTEAL + THE REALM] right now

I'm an adult, though young, and this blog is probably best for 16+ other following disclaimers, tags, interests, etc are below the cut!

following disclaimers: ♤ I tend to save rbs to drafts so I can come back and tag/comment then post, so I'll rb stuff in bunches generally and might be lateish ♤ sorting between r/p/queerplatonic/etc is blurry, so I'll generally just use one name for a pair/group and stick with it. this means you might see a platonic duo tagged with a ship name, or vice versa ♤ this also means I don't generally tag trafficshipping/lsshipping/etc ♤ I don't have any cw/tws I tag regularly, but if you'd like me to tag smth feel free to ask! ♤ askbox is always open, including for drawing/ficlet reqs!

incomplete list of interests: (most current will be blue) ♤ mcyt in general- lifesteal, the realm, hermitcraft (decked out), trafficlife, pirates smp, many many more. ethoslab ♤ slimecicle, the slimecicle cinematic universe, jrwi, generation loss ♤ ethan nestor, markiplier, in space with markiplier, other cyao ♤ fnaf, tmnt, sonic, mlp, tadc ♤ kollok, lackadaisy, milgram ♤ wolf 359, the penumbra podcast, the magnus archives ♤ dropout tv in all its glory, other torment nexus game(shows) ♤ fire emblem three hopes/houses, spiritfarer, webfishing ♤ all fishing minigames.

frequent faces: >> zam (🎭💝) she/he/sun/ram, twin/cohost. likes kitties, loves you! >> clown (🎪❤️‍🩹) he/it/she, guard. likes food, loves winning >> jay (⚙️🧡) she/her, taskmaster. likes birds, loves gadgetry

we'll likely have a longer intro post to link here later

[lots uses 🐾♥️]

tags with the format "-🐾♥️" are who wrote the post/tags. the tag without a dash is to add to that person's "collection"

other tags: > #cards chatter- us talking > #cards words- our writing > #cards scribbles- our drawings > #cards mailbox- asks > #epic art/writing/etc- stuff we’ve rb'd that is epic but not ours

old version of the above tags used "captain's" instead of "cards"

[mystic-mae]

hello, it's me.

MY name is Mae. I also go by Janus, Edwin, Pluto, Virgil, Jean, Jason Dean/JD, Kaz, Lee, and California/Cali. Any of these names are allowed to address me so go ahead and have fun.

BY THE WAY, PLEASE DON'T SEND ME DONATION ASKS. THEY MAKE ME UNCOMFORTABLE. SORRY!! I'M NOT TRYING TO IGNORE THEM, I PROMISE! THIS GOES FOR ALL MY OTHER BLOGS THAT I RUN, TOO! SO SORRY, GUYS!

× MY COMMUNITY / TYPE OF POSTS ×

Reblogs:

David Tennant

Good Omens

Doctor Who

Markiplier

Dead Boy Detectives

Scream Movies / Scream'd

Six of Crows

Team Theorist

Animator vs. Animation / Animation vs. Minecraft

Shitposts not made by me

Any other fandom that I forgot to mention

My posts:

Shitposts made by me

Living in the Basement

TW posts: Chemical explosions, fire, murder, arson, gore

TX2 rants

sporadic (if ever) posts about my art

Showing off my poetry

Screaming about Asmi's Maggot Server

Mae and Co. Purgatory server ( #purgatory server )

Asks (#i just got a letter)

DnD campaign (#runaway ruler dnd for part 1, #convict ruler dnd for part 2, and #ruined ruler dnd universe for all parts)

Jukebox Musical ideas I make ( #stagefire musical )

× DISCORD SERVER ×

Want to join my discord server, happily named "Mae and Co. Purgatory"? Well, come on down! I'll be happy to have you!

Click the link right here: https://discord.gg/HP48kr3Rya

× OTHER BLOGS ×

Gimmick Blogs (asks use { @___ ):

@in-n-out-burger-unofficial

@galapagos-islands-notreal

@the-film-theory

@fluorine-9th-element

OC RP Blogs (asks use - @___ ):

@kollok-minor-council

@xinghopescollective

@vachon-children

@ghostish-romanvachon

Character RP Blogs (asks use [ @___ ):

@ethan-laundry-basket

@six-crows-club

@dream-the-endless

@edwinpayne-deadboy

@color-gang-and-co

@doctorboykisser

@mack-head-engineer

@kilgrave-thompson

Shared Blogs:

@sideblog-of-the-maggotdom

@poetsofthestars (Poet Janus)

× DNI'S N' STUFF ×

don't be weird, please.

no heavy nsfw stuff.

weird asks are generally not allowed?? idk man

DON'T TRY TO FIND OUT WHO I AM IRL. THAT'S CREEPY.

no homophobia, transphobia, racism, bigotry, or anything that is generally banned

I AM PRO ENDO. ANTI-ENDOS PLEASE LEAVE.

i am a tx2 fan, yes, get out if you dont like tx2

emily armstrong truther until proven SOLIDLY otherwise

"May thy fart dagger, chip, and shatter." ~ TX2

[jackaycola]

Serving cunt rn I have so many new Kollok edits to show y’all…

[utilitycaster]

Do you think part of the D20 journalistic bias comes from D20 being edited? It gives the appearance of much more effortless play and lets them control the pacing in a way unedited play like CR simply can't do. They get to (potentially) hide a lot of stuff people would jump on as flaws while CR has no choice but to let it all play out. I greatly prefer CR's approach, despite it biting them in the ass a bit through no fault of their own.

Answering these both together to group cause and my opinions, and I do want to note this is specifically about journalism/press coverage, not their respective fandoms even though there's obviously some overlap.

I think there's a couple things, but I do want to note this was actually prompted by Daggerheart, not Critical Role. The response from several prominent voices in the Actual Play journalism community, whom I will not name here but whom I do not respect intellectually, really was, within hours of the open beta (which as far as I know they didn't have early access to - more on that later) "um it could be better, I don't like xyz and also it's sooooooo important to have criticism" and again, it is important to have criticism, but also you act like D20 has never had a mediocre moment and that Kollok is brilliant, so.

This...got away from me a bit. I'd say I'm sorry but actually I adore writing thousands of words about actual play and it will happen again but I'm putting the detailed answer below a cut. The short answer is I think a lot of Actual Play journalists actually sort of fell into their jobs through being vaguely involved in nerd spaces and aren't actually equipped to talk intelligently about TTRPGs and actual play as a medium that should, at its best, be a perfect fusion of narrative and mechanics. So instead they're distracted by flashy edits and bright lights and cool noises and some abstract concept of "novelty" and write only about that. Also Critical Role is the 700 lb gorilla in the AP space (though not, actually, the TTRPG space) and doesn't give them early access and that's meaaaaaan. Indeed, for all I think a lot of their coverage of D20 and Worlds Beyond Number is obsessively fawning, I also think it's extremely surface level, frequently factually wrong, and fails to get at what's truly excellent about those shows either.

I think, honestly, the biggest one is that I don't actually think a lot of Actual Play journalists watch series in full. I was looking for Polygon coverage of Fantasy High Junior Year and they have one glowing article but it's more about Fantasy High as setting and institution and D20 "changing the game" (also more on this later) to the point of outright contradicting the pull quotes they used from interviewing Brennan Lee Mulligan (also more on this later). So I started looking through their coverage and actually, quite a number of their write-ups are based on only one episode, or half a season. Clearly, they haven't read the full open beta (nor have I, but I think their complaints about the character build process belie a profound misunderstanding of what TTRPGs are, also more on this later). So editing is certainly part of it because it's really easy to see cool special effects and sound design within one episode and shit out a hacky article about it, whereas actually getting to the substance - character relationships, cohesive narrative, storytelling - requires work that I do not think they're doing. And on the one hand I do kind of get it, because yeah, if journalism is your livelihood then you perhaps do not have the time to watch 4 hours of D&D a week for 2-3 years if you're only going to get one article every six months out of it. But I don't think the answer is "focus intently on Microsoft Powerpoint-esque scene transition tricks while ignoring that nothing occurring at the table is actually fun to watch." For more on this, see this post.

The second, which is very relevant to Daggerheart but also is actually a big gap in D20 and WBN coverage in my opinion, and which I put in the tags, is that I actually don't think a lot of journalists have a solid understanding of TTRPGs nor of most genres. And I think Critical Role has a particularly good understanding of both these things, actually, if one skewed towards collaborative storytelling that is not rules-light. I think one really big example is that one person within the space is mad at the Daggerheart questions for the character archetypes because what if your character doesn't fit these. I think this is dumb as shit. I actually think that a common criticism of D&D - that you can't play ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING - is not valid, or rather, it's a valid opinion to hold but if you want to play a character who doesn't fit into the available archetypes perhaps you need to find another game. We all inherently understand that Blades in the Dark characters will be members of a criminal organization in a relatively low-magic setting, correct? That you can't show up to BitD and play a lawful good wizard prince because that's not the story being told? Or like, how in Honey Heist, you are a bear and you are trying to get honey, and you cannot play a human child investigating the old abandoned house at the edge of town, but there's a cool game called Kids on Bikes that will let you do that? Great! Why is this suddenly so hard to understand in the realm of heroic fantasy, that you will fit into specific archetypes? Why do people's brains, if they have them to begin with, vanish suddenly? I know I just did a big old rant that included this within it but genuinely I think a lot of people are deeply ignorant of heroic fantasy, or don't like it, and either is fine, but then they get mad at the heroic fantasy game for having heroic fantasy archetypes when the answer is "maybe this will never make you happy because it's not for you." (Frankly, I think this is also why they love D20, because it doesn't really do straight-up heroic fantasy, and that's fine, but they do keep acting like doing a Game of Thrones pastiche is equivalent to the invention of the wheel.) Like...I remember in the Midst Q&A that Xen said they tend to not like playing typical D&D classes, but their solution was to, you know, create Midst instead of sitting around going "actually, because D&D doesn't support cyberpunk narrative and the character archetypes within very well it is an utter failure." (I could go on forever about how actually TTRPGs are not a showcase for your already extant OCs to prance around but that's a totally separate post).

Mechanics and story are inherently intertwined, is what I'm trying to get at (sorry I'm really tired and have a lot to do but I'm passionate about this answer, it will be rambly, she says like 3 pages in) and I really don't think most actual play journalists get this. At all. And I do think that CR, and Daggerheart, and the people working for it, and especially Spenser Starke, Rowan Hall, Matt Mercer, and Travis Willingham, get this more than almost anyone else in the field. I also think Brennan Lee Mulligan and Aabria Iyengar get this, and the thing is, for all the praise showered upon them, much of which I think is deserved and most of what I think is undeserved is not because they are lacking but because the person writing about them is an idiot crediting them for things they (Brennan and Aabria) would never claim to have invented, their mechanical prowess is rarely if ever written about well. Fantasy High Junior Year's downtime mechanics actually fill in a famous gap in D&D, namely, downtime, and provide an excellent marriage of story and mechanics in my opinion, and I haven't really seen any discussion, because that would require watching the part of the TTRPG show where they play the TTRPG, and knowing the vague word on the street about D&D criticism that isn't just "*nods sagely* capitalism is the BBEG."

And finally: related a bit to the edit but Critical Role used to not be able to provide any early access to press, because it was literally a live show, and I suspect they never broke the habit, and I think that is for the best. As discussed a lot of D20 coverage actually feels like they watched the press screener and then never returned to the show. And I do not know the politics about them, but given that several of these publications (notably Polygon, but some others) have been shitting on Critical Role for several years, and just generally given the way CR's leadership vs. how D20's leadership respond to fandom pressure, I suspect Critical Role does not give these journalists a ton of early or increased, if any. Honestly, why should you, if you're getting interviewed in Variety? And I think the journalists are mad, because they think they're special and should get treated as such.

I do want to wrap something up, and I want to thank @captainofthetidesbreath for talking a little about this in game design/ttrpgs and giving me the idea, but in story, you should be challenging your audience, expanding their horizons, and being new and interesting. In the actual playing of TTRPGs, especially a new one, it is vital to be inclusive and easy to understand and patient and provide points of reference. I really feel like many Actual Play journalists and some TTRPG ones as well have this equation flipped and are looking for challenging concepts that most people will never be able to get a group to be willing to play, and bells and whistles in production, but leave story as an afterthought. Critical Role designs games to actually be played and to be used specifically to tell good stories, and puts story before production, and I think that undercuts those journalists' whole deal.