These are all such great responses! Thank you for your feedback, y’all.
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Obviously we all love a good laugh, but my absolute favorite moments are when the PCs are so involved with their characters that they become emotionally vulnerable. Swan Song was especially successful at creating these moments. I don’t know what it’s like being a big time Twitch streamer, but for a lot of us we consider you guys (the streamers) friends. We’ve been watching many of you for years, after all. It’s sort of special when I get to see a PC that I feel close to show emotions that they otherwise don’t during a normal stream geared towards being cheerful and entertaining.
A bit strange, I know. But hey, it’s honest.
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This is what I always remember most about campaigns. The raucous laughter is fun and stuff, but it’s the moments where we’re sitting wondering what we’re learning about each other and the world through the stories we’re telling is what matter most to me. Whether it’s Geoff and I discussing death through Pi and Sicarian or Wheat and Dodger working out what it would mean to love someone obsessed with a dangerous habit, or just JP and Steven navigating the always-tense waters of character disagreement - that stuff is what I live for.
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I think the roleplay shows are most fun when the cast is comfortable with each other and with the game because if they don’t understand how the game works or are trying to not to get in another cast members way it stifles the character and the player, roleplay is at its best when the cast and characters aren’t afraid to disagree with each other (whether out of avoiding conflict or not being aware of other in game options) and have to confront a hard decision as a group instead of just sitting passively in the world as 1 or 2 people make all the decisions
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I’ve enjoyed watching all of the recent RollPlay shows, the cast on every one has been fantastic, they really seem to get invested in their characters, a great DM and interesting and compelling scenarios.
Honestly though I found the recent Dogs In The Vineyard difficult to get into, the cast was brilliant and Adam you did a great job as usual. I thinks it was because I wasn’t sure I completely understood the system that was being used and found it difficult to follow exactly what was happening.
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The first several eps of west marches were a slaughter house with all the level 1 characters.
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GM, Cast synergy, visualisation and knowledge around the game system makes or break the show for me.
- The GM’s ability to tell a story and create universe that feel lived in.
- The cast needs the have synergy with each other and with the GM.
- Knowledge about the game system, drives me mad when cast members are many episodes into the show and still haven’t bother learning the basic rules. Drags out so much of the show.
- How the GM visualizes the world, maps, battles and so on are very important for me. Especially in combat were ranged matters.
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I think rollplay is most interesting when players are put in situations they haven’t thought about before.
If you put a group of players in a standard DnD situation where they start in an inn and have to clear a nearby cave of goblins then the players know the motions to go through. With this type of story they’re sort of free form rping a generic fantasy storyline salted with whatever characterization is floating around in their head. This is boring. We’ve all read the stories and watched the movies and while tropes can be a useful shorthand they can also be a crutch.
If you put the player in a more surreal situation I think they get to live in their character more and can be asked to make more interesting situations. What if that village the players start at was farming the goblins for food and one pack happened to get away and setup in a nearby cave? Will the players wipe them out (they will because dnd but that’s a different issue) or will they confront the villagers about eating their eating habits?
To be more specific, I did not enjoy BoP Light Side. Because, while I like all the players individually, I found their decision making predictable and dull.
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I would say satisfying arcs? Both character and story-wise.
This is why I kept tuning in to the Swan Song GM Turn, because I wanted to know, will Onintza Libre survive ? Will Andoni rise from the ashes?
Swan Song was full of these. How twisted will PI become? Will Piani be able to raise PI? Will Victor meet a Shindalien? Will Willbur be able to pull off “The Higgs” again? And most of all, will Mr. Siccarian topple Mr. Titan and return to his rightful place at Phothenhauer?
Similarily in West Marches, will we ever know what would Hextia do with Julliete’s baby? Will Kurthak be able to defend his adopted family? Will Kellan earn the respect of his father? What will become of Grigori? Will Galahan get his dragon egg hatched?
On the other hand some of the shows were mixed bag for me, mostly because I often didn’t find an arc that I really cared about.
I.e. in Mirror Shades only CrusherXHadyia really clicked with me. In Balance Of Power I loved the first episode, and really liked the system, but no arc really clicked with me as well.
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For me:
The Cast - there are certain people who are/have been on Rollplay that I love to watch, and some I just can’t get behind. It’s a personal thing. But in the end the cast of a show determines whether I watch a small portion of a show or the whole series.
The DM - This is always a big thing for me, but something that hasn’t been an issue for me on Rollplay shows recently. Loved everything from Adam and Steven, and haven’t seen John Harper DM, but loved him in Adams Apocalypse world on Roll20.
The Setting - For a one shot, I really love seeing new settings, for an extended show I love seeing arcs for both the characters and the Setting itself.
One thing with setting that I’d like to see is a long running setting with characters going from “I’m gonna die” upwards to “We can kill a god now”. But I think that style might be better for a group off stream over a show. Although I’d also like to see a full on Anime style campaign with Dodger GMing 
Ruleset - Doesn’t really affect my viewing experience so far, as long as the DM knows the system and the players pick up on it and don’t hate it, it’s fine. That being said, I’d love to see more rulesets over the next few years.
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Addendum, literally everything about Blades episode 1.
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I’ve enjoyed different shows in different ways.
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I enjoyed Mirrorshades (the show that actually got me interested in Rollplay) and fell in love with how committed the entire cast was to the very unique, dating-sim in a cyberpunk world. The cast also played up their characters to the gills, and Adam as a GM asked all of the super-interesting questions that really made the cast bloom.
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I enjoyed West Marches for the rotating cast, many of whom really had enjoyable and eccentric characters, how well Steven made up wonderful set-pieces off of a random encounter generator, and how interesting and varied the world was.
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Court of Swords started rocky for me, the team had a very…deliberate pace through all the action, and it felt like it dragged. Including Geoff, someone who’s always going to push the pace and instill extra energy anyway, really pushed it over the edge and brought me back into it. Maybe the original trio were just a little too bought into their ability to call on additional resources.
Looking at it, I think I enjoy shows that have a cast that is comfortable together, and equipped by the system, the setting, and the DM to push an exciting pace - for whatever the show is.
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What I make’s RollPlay fun to watch for me is actually the fun the people playing have playing. Whether it’s the jokes between characters because of some outrageous situation the party has gotten itself into or some super serious situation where TPK is on the line and all the players are desperately going through their abilities list to find some way to lawyer their way out of it that’s when I find myself laughing along or screaming GM horseshit at the screen.
I always like it when a show evolves and becomes something I wasn’t exactly expecting when it began. My favourite show is Mirrorshades as the show about ‘elite agents’ ended up being a Romantic comedy about a group of ineffective criminals and it is always fun to see a show that has found its voice and gone with the flow.
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For me the most important this is that the players by into the world/campaign and system.
If everyone knows what they are getting into in terms of tone, atmosphere, and mechanics then it seems to click very easily and makes for smooth listening too.
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Moments like Bregor/Taric rolling 3 natural ones
in a row, Mr S’s spacewalk and his duel, the end of “The Date” with
Bon-bon and Breakdown, the death of Juliette, the resurrection of
Shialbaz.
Funny moments, like Kovacs in the staircase, Jizz music, supercars full of hamburgers.
It’s a combo of good RP and the crucial dice rolls that helps make these moments.
These are why I watch RollPlay.
The game system doesn’t matter to me, just provides the setting and flavor of the game imo.
The short answer is: Geoff.
The slightly longer answer is: The system really does not matter in a show, as long as there is one that is remotely understandable for the audience. What matters is the chemistry between players and GM but also the audience. For example: The comic relief that Geoff brought to CoS really lightened up the show. I guess the mood and attidude of the people involved needs to mix well to become entertainment and for a show to be interesting enough to keep watching.
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There have been a lot of other responses here that touch on the same things, so I’m not going to touch on those. Instead I’m going to say that what makes these shows really fun for me is being able to make a mental image of what’s happening.
The first example that pops into my head is when the PC’s first encountered the Serpents of Woe in the West Marches. I think Steven did a great job of describing the Serpents rising up out of the pools; it gave the show a sense of dread and anxiety in that mental picture that reached out and effected me as a viewer.
Another example that helps me make a mental picture is how @AdamKoebel makes movie scenes and action sequences. I loved the Pfotenhauer ship prologue sequences at the beginning of Swansong episodes. Then diagonal wipe to the PC’s. It really helped get my imagination going.
To summarize, good descriptions help me engage in the shows and with what the characters are doing.
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Totally agree with everything said.
For me the vast majority is the Cast.
After watching lots of Rollplay and other streaming games I realized it comes down to the cast. JP does an amazing job of assembling a group that works well together. The reason I can’t get into many other streamed roleplay games is they people playing seem nice and all but since they aren’t streamers they lack the personality and audio equipment for a good cast.
Even if people are good friends it doesn’t make for a good viewer experience. Rollplay usually has a good blend of the players knowing each other as well as they know how to perform for an audience.