Last Friday saw a Valentine's Day special of Monsterhearts session DM'ed by Critical Role's own, Matthew Mercer. However, having been new to the game — in fact, it being his first time — Mercer made some questionable calls. This spurred criticism from longtime Monsterhearts fans, which then resulted in Critical Role fans making a hassle of their own. Being caught between a proverbial rock and hard place, Mercer gave his two cents on the matter, claiming that he wants to defend his own critics without his fans advocating for him.
See for yourself Mercer's response
What is Monsterhearts?
Monsterhearts, like Dungeons and Dragons, is an RPG. Its primary genre is romance. Specifically speaking, it is about the complicated romance among adolescents who are secretly monsters. The rules of D. Vincent Baker and Meguey Baker's Apocalypse World are used in Monsterhearts -- as such, the game is part of Powered by the Apocalypse (PBTA) games. It is to be noted that DnD is not a PBTA game, and thus the disparity of rules between the two types of games stems. While a game like DnD is more rule-based, a PBTA game prioritises fiction over rules.
Monsterhearts 2 - Buried Without Ceremony
Some more criticism, and some more defense
The gripe about queerness comes from the queer and LBTQ community who feel like the session lacked a wide range of sexual orientation.
What the criticism was all about
The particular session was titled Cinderbrush: A Monsterhearts Story. And the particular problem critics found was that Mercer stuck to the rules too much for their taste. As mentioned, Monsterhearts is more story-governed than rule-governed. Thus, a little too much adherence to the ruleset was what set the Monsterhearts-Critical Role twitter spitfire.
Matt Mercer's stance
Mercer has made it clear that he does not want his fans to fight his battles for him. But is that not an ignorant thing to say? If critics can bash him, should his fans not come to his rescue if they can? Is that not a blessing for Mercer? Then again, sometimes tension on social media can escalate in a heartbeat. So maybe Mercer is just on the side of caution.
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