Talk:Critical Role Productions

Why does Critical Role Productions exist separately from the Critical Role article?
This was originally discussed at Talk:Critical Role (February 2020, June 2020). In June 2020, the Critical Role article was 102.316 kb which following WP:SIZERULE meant it should be divided into multiple articles. Following the launch of non-Critical Role related shows and a successful Kickstarter, there was more coverage on aspects of the studio outside of the original show so Critical Role Productions meets WP:GNG and was a good target to be split off from the original article. Sariel Xilo (talk) 17:59, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

Info to merge
Thoughts on moving the charity section from the CR article to the studio article? Sariel Xilo (talk) 02:53, 3 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I'd leave the stuff directly tied to the show, at the show article (e.g. 826LA), move the other CR charity stuff here (e.g. Red Nose Day), but move the G&S hosted charity drives to the G&S article – or at least it's talk page (e.g. the Extra Life fundraisers). We can then tweak wordings based on the article it's at. Little pob (talk) 17:51, 3 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I moved over the Red Nose Day info. Sariel Xilo (talk) 21:28, 3 July 2020 (UTC)

corrected Pathfinder
In History it said "Felecia heard about the home D&D game and wanted them to stream it live, but had the characters converted form Pathfinder to D&D..." this made no sense, as you cant convert a Pathfinder character to D&D, if it was already D&D. So have replaced the 1st case of D&D to Pathfinder, and linked both Pathfinder to their article on WP. shadzar-talk 11:45, 7 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Good point; but we only wikilink the first instance per MOS:DL. It should probably have originally said "tabletop role-playing game" - because we shouldn't assume a reader would know that D&D and Pathfinder were TTRPGs. So this is what I've changed the first mention of Pathfinder to. Little pob (talk) 13:26, 7 January 2021 (UTC)
 * that works. I am so out of practice, glad you came in quickly and fixed my goof. shadzar-talk 14:24, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

Controversy section
In the search for a better source for the donation of the profits from the Wendy's sponsorship I came across the sensitivity reader stuff. So I've added a controversy section. Not checked any MOS for where such a section should sit; so have just put it at the bottom of the article for now. I also copied the Wendy's stuff over from the main article, with a small amount of copy editing done to it. Little pob (talk) 13:38, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I poked around the MOS and there isn't a hard & fast rule on location (just about avoiding undue weight). I looked at a few other articles and decided to fold the awards & the controversy section into a new reception section. If there's more coverage on the company itself (rather than the shows), we can add a Critical response subsection but I left it out for now. Sariel Xilo (talk) 19:21, 11 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Little pob, sections called "Controversy" are discouraged. It's better to put them in a chronological company history. Drmies (talk) 17:41, 6 May 2021 (UTC)
 * Drmies: Thanks, good to know. I will move and copy edit. For anyone else interested, the relevant guidelines/policies are WP:CRITS and WP:BLPGROUP. Little pob (talk) 11:55, 7 May 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅ Little pob (talk) 12:48, 7 May 2021 (UTC)

Twitch numbers
I also wasn't sure of the source so I posted here but no other editors have responded yet. Sariel Xilo (talk) 16:14, 1 June 2021 (UTC)
 * thanks for the ping, I'm not an expert in RS so will post here. TwitchTracker is probably best described as an aggregator; WP:RS only touches on aggregators briefly, and only to specifically speak to review aggregators: "Although review aggregators (such as Rotten Tomatoes) may be reliable, their audience ratings based on the reviews of their users are not." I find the discrepancy in subscribers between the Independent.co.uk article and TwitchTracker interesting. Twitch doesn't make public a channel's paid subscriber count. So while it's not known where the news piece got their Critical Role info from – by which I mean there are no quotes attributed to any of the cast or crew – it's equally unclear where the likes of TwitchTracker get some of their data from, which is something that has been noted by others. (NB this is a cherry picked source; there are plenty of random articles and opinions out there that extol the benefits of using Twitch metric aggregators like TwitchTracker) Little pob (talk) 12:47, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

Programming table
Hi all. I have a suggestion here that we create a table for programming; a list of all the shows the company runs with start dates and end dates. My blueprint for this is the one that already exists on the Geek & Sundry page. If necesary it could be split into two tables for current and former, but could aid in displaying the information clearly. --ERAGON (talk) 19:04, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Oppose - I find the Geek & Sundry table unwieldy especially on the mobile edition of Wikipedia where the table doesn't automatically format to a readable way while a list does. I also think the category buckets (current programming, future programming, hiatus, and former programming) make the information clear rather than reducing the categories. You could add the start/end dates to the list for additional clarification. Sariel Xilo (talk) 19:23, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I'd agree with simply adding programming dates, really that's the key bit of information that's missing here. --ERAGON (talk) 10:00, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Also my preference. Would we want the dates in parenthesis after the title, or in the prose? Examples:
 * UnDeadwood (2019) – A four-part limited series in which Brian W. Foster GMs a game based on the HBO series Deadwood, using the Deadlands RPG system.
 * UnDeadwood – A four-part limited series in which Brian W. Foster GMs a game based on the HBO series Deadwood, using the Deadlands RPG system. The show's single season aired in 2019.
 * UnDeadwood (2019) – A limited series in which Brian W. Foster GMs a game based on the HBO series Deadwood, using the Deadlands RPG system. The show's single season aired in 2019.
 * Little pob (talk) 13:12, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I'd prefer option #1, with date ranges provided for shows that ran for multiple years. Production information, hiatuses etc could involve further dates within the body of text, but not necessary.
 * Talks Machina (2016–21)
 * --ERAGON (talk) 14:52, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅. For quickness I used the dates listed on the first and last video of the YouTube playlists; does someone mind double-checking that those dates are correct? Little pob (talk) 20:58, 16 December 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅. All seemed fine albeit for Talks Machina- which lasted until 2021 but did not quite make it to the end of Campaign 2. I've also added Talks Machina After Dark, which was an Alpha exclusive.--ERAGON (talk) 09:28, 17 December 2021 (UTC)
 * ✅. All seemed fine albeit for Talks Machina- which lasted until 2021 but did not quite make it to the end of Campaign 2. I've also added Talks Machina After Dark, which was an Alpha exclusive.--ERAGON (talk) 09:28, 17 December 2021 (UTC)

Switch list to glossary in productions section?
The bullet lists in the ==Productions== section have now become WP:prose presented as a list. (Thank you to all those who've helped expand the section! ) I was going to boldly switch each bullet point into its own subsection, when I came across an interesting use of glossary that looks better to me:

{{collapse|1=

Crit Recap Animated (2020–present)
An animated spinoff of Critical Recap hosted by Dani Carr. It is co-written by Carr, Kyle Shire and Marisha Ray with animation by Offworld Studios. The show retells Campaign 2 story arcs in short, 5- to 10-minute episodes. Episode 1 premiered in December 2020 and introduced the main characters of the Mighty Nein. New episodes have been released in 2021 on an irregular schedule.

#EverythingIsContent (2018–present)
A show of no fixed format. Several of the episodes have had sponsored content. The show can be something of a testbed for the studio too; with Pub Draw and MAME Drop originally piloted as episodes of #EverythingIsContent.

Exandria Unlimited (2021–present)
Exandria Unlimited (ExU) is an anthology web series and spin-off of Critical Role. The first season featured a canon Critical Role story set in the city of Emon on the continent of Tal'Dorei 30 years after Campaign One and 10 years after Campaign Two. Helmed by Aabria Iyengar as the Dungeon Master, it was originally broadcast from June 24 to August 12, 2021 with a two-part continuation released at the end of March 2022. The second season, titled Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, premiered on May 26, 2022. It follows a group of heroes from the Age of Arcanum who attempt to prevent the Calamity and is led by Brennan Lee Mulligan as the Dungeon Master.

4-Sided Dive (2022)
The replacement show for Talks Machina. It features a discussion between four cast members with the host randomly selected by the role of a d4 die. The show answers fan questions "pulled from a Tower of Inquiry, which is basically a Jenga tower". Using a glossary gets around that we can't wikilink section headings, and prevents an overlong TOC for a ~25K article – though it would be disingenuous if I didn't also point out TOC limit. (Don't know about anyone else; but also like the way the indent looks). However, the sectioned method might be easier for those unfamiliar with the markup to move content about as shows get announced, go on hiatus, re-enter production, or get cancelled.
 * 2=Sectioned presentation}}

Any thoughts on which way to switch the presentation? Little pob (talk) 18:16, 4 June 2022 (UTC)
 * With no objections after nearly a fortnight, I've gone ahead and made the switch. As I'm having issues with linking to and within glossaries on a page I'm currently drafting, went with subheaded sections. Little pob (talk) 12:33, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Metapigeon
I've created Metapigeon and pointed it here. If the need arises to split CRP's animation production to a different article; please consider retargeting or repurposing the redirect (as appropriate). Little pob (talk) 14:01, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

Moving Critical Role–related products section
Thoughts on moving the Critical Role–related products section over to this article? Darrington Press was originally a subsection here before I everything under "Licensed works and related products" to the then newly created Critical Role–related products. I've just spun-out the subsection on Darrington Press into its own article so the subsidiaries section is quite small. We could also add something about Metapigeon under that subheading. Sariel Xilo (talk) 00:23, 21 April 2023 (UTC)

Quick heads up
Just a note for those who watch the CR pages in general, but this one especially; celeb press are saying Johnson and Foster have had a less than amicable split, with reports of an application for emergency restraining order. There has been no statement from CR, so it's not even in scope to mention here. Given Johnson seems quite a private person, I'm not sure the team will issue anything; but, if they do, hopefully we won't end up revisiting similar issues we had with retaining mention of Orion on the CR article and the Wendy's one-shot in the episodes article. Little pob (talk) 12:57, 26 May 2023 (UTC)


 * A discussion on sourcing & what exactly to include in Johnson's article is occurring at that talk page. Until CR makes a statement or takes any action (ex. pulling old Foster content a la the Wendy's one-shot), I agree with you that it's not within scope for this article. Sariel Xilo (talk) 16:23, 26 May 2023 (UTC)
 * @Sariel Xilo the Talks Machina podcasts have also, understandably, been removed/delisted from the likes of Spotify (i.e. not on the CR page, custom playlists are blank) but I'm only seeing coverage for the videos being taken down/privated. I think it's worth a mention, but can't come up with WP:BLUE way of wording it that couldn't be labelled OR/synth. Thoughts? Little pob (talk) 12:21, 4 August 2023 (UTC)
 * I'm not entirely sure that platform by platform merits due WP:WEIGHT. YouTube is the primary platform. ~Cheers, Ten  Ton  Parasol  18:21, 4 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Twitch & YouTube are the primary platforms. There's a subsection on podcasting under broadcast which mention Talks. I don't think this section needs to mention that Talks was pulled because the subsection on the show itself states: In July 2023, this show was removed from Critical Role's channels. Sariel Xilo (talk) 19:07, 5 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Podcasts are a medium, why are we talking about platforms? Is it because Spotify was given as an example of where the podcast is no longer available?
 * @TenTonParasol I understand the point you are making, but WP:WEIGHT was probably not the best policy area to point to – the bulk of it is about how to treat mention of fringe POVs. Dealing with minority aspects is better dealt with by WP:MINORASPECT, which has the added advantage of being more succinct.
 * @Sariel Xilo Not everyone will read every section of an article though. They skip to the section that is pertinent to them on that visit to WP, or Google will dump them directly at that section.
 * Whilst still feel the podcast section should mention Talk's removal from hosts; WP:MINORASPECT—itself leaning on WP:V—says otherwise.  Little pob (talk) 10:27, 7 August 2023 (UTC)
 * If you want to update it with a general statement ("removed from Critical Role's channels") instead of platform specifics, that would probably be fine. Sariel Xilo (talk) 17:28, 7 August 2023 (UTC)

Just want to flag that Johnson along with others (including one current CR employee & 1 former) have sued Foster for abuse in a civil case. There's a WP:PAGESIX article making the rounds quoting the lawsuit directly & a ComicBook article which anonymized some of the details. ComicBook also has the following statement from CR: We are aware of the civil complaint that includes disturbing details about the behavior of one of our ex-employees, Brian W. Foster. While we can't get into the specifics of the lawsuit, we want to make it clear that we had no knowledge of any of his behavior. It is heartbreaking to us that some of our colleagues went through this and we're committed to supporting them however we can. We are working with our HR team and our staff directly to ensure our workplace and culture live up to all of our expectations. Not sure if any of this needs to be included yet. Sariel Xilo (talk) 23:39, 4 October 2023 (UTC)


 * I am aware. I'm also watching this talk page, so I don't need to be pinged for talk page updates. ~Cheers, Ten  Ton  Parasol  00:12, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks. BLP content is definitely outside my competency, so I won't be adding anything about it to articles. Little pob (talk) 08:13, 5 October 2023 (UTC)