Grog was the definition of "big of heart, dumb of ass", it's sad how people ignore how much he loved his friends and how that was a major part of what made him work as a character

"Basically, the key to playing a big, dumb idiot is to use your brain."

That's going in my Favorite Quotes document.

People so frequently forget how empathetic and gentle Grog was as well. How much he cared, how hard he tried. In other news, I think I'd love to try Shadowrun

There are so many things that Krud could have done in the first seesion: pet a stray dog.  Wonder off to buy a soydog from a food cart.  Buy a soy dog for the stray dog and try to tame it.  Distract the shop owner with asinine questions then buy some trinket for one of the "pretty ladies" on the team.
It seems to me that Krud's player wanted to cause problems.

I remember playing an Orc fighter in shadowrun who was "kinda dumb" but mostly had the "REALLY HONEST" trait so it was funny to make him say the truth in awkward situations or using it in a way that will still work for undercover situations, for example he had to get into a snuffy-like kinda porn company to get some info, my party conviced him that having sex was like a battle, so when asked "Have you had any experience in more...unconventional encounters?" The pimp/producer was delighted of hearing "I really like to do it in cages, even if they have electricity"-

The neckbeard's second character kinda reminds me of a gal I played a few years back; she was the vat-grown clone of a technomancer that a megacorp had captured and was being used to test newly developed countermeasures. She started out skittish and jumpy but overtime she became a valued member of a team and a part of their little family. An ongoing joke involved getting her to try street food and teaching her how to properly shoot a gun during downtime.

The point is, sheltered characters don't always have to doe-eyed rays of sunshine! Let sheltered characters be pessimistic, jaded, and nervous, like actual shut-ins going out for the first time in a while!

I feel like "Grog Syndrome" has been a thing long before critical role ever existed

"It has child(e) locks on it."
Ok... gonna let the dad joke slide, cause it's a belter.

"How serious of a campaign are you looking for?" I don't know why this is a question players and GMS don't really like to bother asking more often.

I feel like the "Matt Mercer Effect" and "Grog Syndrome" both suffer from the same issue. People see what Matt and Travis do and completely misundstand it. They don't see or want to replicate the nuance and care of their craft, or expect everyone else to be at that level when they aren't Matt or Travis. They are both voice actors and very intelligent and empathetic people, not every DnD player can match their quality and they shouldn't have to

If we’re going to name a syndrome after a Crit Roll character who always injected themselves into other player’s moments and never knew when to shut up, we should name it after Tiberius.

Episode 1: A Troll Named Krud
Episode 2: A  Troll Named Krud: Return of the Stupid
Episode 3: A DEAD Troll Named Krud
Episode 4: Lolibait Rising: Revengeance
Episode 5: Shadowrun Impossible
Episode 6: Dunkelzahn Shrugged
Episode 7: I Give Up On this Joke

After hyping up the problem player so much at the start, I was expecting him to play a 12 year old ninja catgirl who wears only a bathing suit and thigh high boots, or something like that.

EDIT:
Never mind, that kind of happens in the second half.

Grimey the Neckbeard: Finally! A worthy opponent! Our clash will be legendary!

"Actually, ye can't get into me van."
Childe: "Why not?!""
"It has Childe locks on it :D"

Killed me XD

Me: Oh a new Den of the Drake vid, this should be a good distraction for a few minutes.
Drake: Well there are 6 more parts to this tale.
Me double checking run time, and settling in for the long haul.

One of my favorite characters was a strong dumb chad type called "Betroff".  He was a barbarian centaur with amnesia and a bad russian accent.  He was found by a cleric clinging to life who said he was "Better off Dead", hence him taking the name, Betroff.
He served as a party steed and suprise calvary when stealth failed.  He would charge into battle dual wielding lances.  Very fun to break out the d12s

I think the big thing about joke characters is whether the emphasis is on the JOKE or the CHARACTER. Sure, the concept at it’s core can be really silly, but if the entire character just begins and ends with a single joke, people are gonna get tired of it (as, of course, a joke get way less funny the more times it’s told). However, if you know when to focus on the CHARACTER aspect of the joke character, then it can be fun for everyone at the table

Of course, if it’s something like a one-shot, then the one off joke character is usually fine, but if it’s a long campaign and your character disrupts everything by making toilet jokes every time he speaks, people will get annoyed.

Great point about the Grog effect, I hadn't considered that before. That's the rough thing, Grog very much was that on the surface, but that seemed to be all people took from it. I actually really liked Grog's whole arc about finding strength in his friends and working against his old clan. He remains one of my favorite CR characters, and not just because of the charismatic force that is Travis Willingham!

I came here for the Gumball neckbeard thumbnail and I was not disappointed.



Also excited for your new dragonborn walking the fine line between joke character edgelord and traumatized prisoner chained inside a robot.