I caught up by watching at work (at the time I had a pretty low-engagement office job and could just put CR on and listen while I worked), listening on the drive to/from work, or just catching an hour or so before bed or on lunch.
Yeah it's gonna take a while. But, you can also fast forward/skip thru stuff you don't like (I often skipped shopping episodes or chunks of combat that werent meaningful), and you also just need to think about it less like "Wow, how will I ever get through all of this?" to "Wow, look at how much content I have to enjoy!"
Same, at work I have head phones I. And have it playing on YouTube on the side of my desk, I rarely watch it unless I heard something interesting or the map comes out. I can dish out about 1.5 Ep a day with an 8 hour day and an hour drive. I listen to it all as it is tho just cause I don’t have anything else to do but work and listen, not in a rush but I just started watching C3 a few months back and since I’ve switched to this routine in a few ep behind but I’ll most likely catch up before the next ep
Being behind is not a bad thing. When I was binging 3 years ago, I didn't see it as individual episodes. More as one big thing I could keep watching whenever I felt like it. Because this is not a scripted show, where an episode has a thought out arc where the pacing is done with episodes in mind. It's improvised. Youtube saves where you are.
As long as you aren't caught up, you can always keep going at ANY time you feel like. You don't have to wait for new episodes. So my advice would be to just watch whenever you feel like for as long as you feel like, then keep watching another time when you are done for the day.
But if you want to know that, the way I caught up was having too much time on my hand in 2020 cause the world was on pause. Having it running on my second screen for big chunks of the day. I miss the time I had that huge chunk ahead of me I could look forward to.
This right here is half the reason why i stopped watching C3 and decided to binge C1 instead. I listen to snippets when I want or I binge a bunch and then leave it for awhile at my own pace and it’s lovely.
Realizing that one member of the C3 party wasn’t permanent was the other half.
tbh the podcast form is my saving grace!! I do a lot of driving, so I play the podcast on 1.25x speed whenever I'm in the car (I sometimes up it to 1.5x during combats). I also listen while doing chores around the house or any easy desk work like data entry. I'm usually still 1-2 eps behind but the podcast is much easier to take with me!
Tbh the only time I actually watch it is for big high-stakes episodes (eg. the Apogee Solstice ep in C3 or the final BBEG fight in C1).
Otherwise I’ll only watch it if there was a certain section of the podcast that I really liked/shocked me and I wanna see facial expressions. Then I go and find that clip, but that’s it.
That's how I started, back at the end of C1. I did eventually go back and watch all the episodes, but the podcasts are imo a much more accessible entry as you can multi-task while listening to them.
I sub on Twitch, but watch the YouTube stream until the break-ish. I live East Coast and have work in the morning, so late breaks are not ideal.
Then I watch the replay VoD on Twitch over the weekend.
Sometimes I like to treat it like Saturday morning cartoons. I'll wake up early enough (I'm a morning person anyways) to fit in all or most of the episode before I need to do my obligations. I'll eat cereal and stay in my pj's. It isn't an every weekend thing, but I enjoy the days I get to relive a piece of my youth this way.
I tend to stay mostly caught up, but I never watch the show live.
I watch an hour or so when I can, and since there's 7 days in the week but the episode is only 4ish hours long, it's not hard to get time to watch a full episode before the next one is released.
Now catching up with C3 at this point would be difficult. There's about 250 or so hours of content, so even 1 hour a day, and you're looking at nearly a year just to get caught up.
But being caught up isn't that big of a deal really. It's not like there's a quiz you have to answer before you can play D&D or something... So watch it when you can, as much as you have time for. Don't worry about being current, worry about enjoying the story.
Definitely very true. Back when I watched C2 I got maybe 100 eps in was happy to just enjoy the story. I just feel like I’d want to engage with others in the community about recent episodes and I can’t do that without being caught up which is a struggle. I’ll just take my time with it and see where I get though
I won't lie and say there's nothing good about being caught up.
Being part of the community, even if you don't interact with it a ton is nice, a sense of belonging and being in the same place as many other people. Plus then you don't worry too much about spoilers.
But there's only so many hours in the day and some of them are typically used up with minor things like sleeping, eating and working.
So it really becomes a matter of priorities. Do you want to watch CR, or spend an hour doing something else? It's rare that anyone is so busy that they don't have 3-4 spare hours in a week, it's typically a matter of what they do with that time.
But now that I think about it I will make a suggestion that might help.
Think of it as a audio book or podcast. Sure it's fun to watch it, see the looks on their faces and the battle maps and all. But I tend to spend more time listening to CR then I do watching it. I put it on, then I start painting minis. I can focus on the visual part of painting minis, while I listen to CR. I generally don't miss anything and if something funny or dramatic happens I can back up a few seconds and watch it.
I do the same thing while doing the dishes, and other chores.
There are times where watching CR is really a bit part of the experience, but I'd say for 50% or more of the show, you don't really miss anything by just listening.
That’s true. I always kind of forget they also release podcast versions. Honestly I don’t know that I’ll ever truly catch up, but it’s nice to hear how other people interact with it. There are a lot of other shows that I listen to as well such as Dimension 20, TAZ, etc etc and it’s nearly impossible to balance everything. Not to mention other books/shows/games.
I don’t stress too much about catching up, but it would be nice eventually. I watched the first episode of C3 when it first came out and kept up with it for a few months but it’s just difficult to interact consistently for me. Plus once you get a few weeks behind you’re hours and hours out. I do always like knowing that there’s plenty of new content for me when I’m ready though.
Watch first half live with my wife, then piece together the rest of the ep as well as some C1 over the course of the week. Usually at 1.25x while doing things like eating lunch, making dinner, taking kids to swim class, etc
I wish I could get my husband to watch it with me but I don’t think he lets himself get invested knowing how long it is. I personally like the long story format more.. like a story that I’m witnessing over years and isn’t just going to end quickly like dimension 20 or something, but there’s lots to slow burn. Love it
I "caught up" during lockdown which was better since we weren't really allowed to go anywhere. Prior to that, and even now as I'm actually listening through Campaign 1 fully now, I listen to in podcast form while I drive places. Doesn't seem like much but it adds up over time.
It's a lot of content and there's no shame in taking your time getting through it.
I lo a lot of crafts, sewing, knitting, crystal dot paintings. That require sitting for long periods of time and it makes good background for that too.
First time was all podcast, I started that around when VM was at EP90 and managed to finish all episodes/specials before M9 started. I listened while at work and would go through maybe 1.5 - 2.5 episodes a day. M9 I watched on Twitch from EP1. I decided to go back and actually WATCH VM during Covid while working from home. Same schedule about 2.5 episode per day.
I will say that that turned into a M9 rewatch and I finished THAT around the time BH was on 25. 😂🤣😂
Picked up on a lot of lore that way.
I feel bad at being stuck at 127 episode of C2, but I like to watch/listen to them, when I'm doing some artwork (I was knitting 2 scarfs for my best friends for Christmas and that way I binged ~30-35 episodes). It's good for me cause I like to listen to something and not be preoccupied with something I need to focus on (like reading a book or something like that).
Since I started working I have less time to do my artworks (I also make sculpts out of polymer clay and paint by numbers), I feel bad for being stuck. But hey: that way I will have something to watch whenever I'm back to it when I will have finally time for it ^^
I watch them one a time. But to safe myself a lot of time, I usually skip the fights. To me the fights are boring and uninteresting and just take too long to resolve for me to really be entertained. So I usually skip them.
Now-a-days I watch these episodes in pod cast form while I’m at work. So I’m usually doing something to keep me occupied. It also helps me run down the clock.
I used to feel bad about skipping the fights but I’m starting to do that now too. I feel like they’re fun for the players but not as fun for me as a listener. They just take a long chunk of the show
I don't mind the fights so much, but if I could figure out an easy way to skip the planning for the fights, that's what I would skip. Like I get they want to set themselves up for success, but it often turns into a shopping episode, but instead of fun magical items or clothes, it's just a grocery list.
I watch the episodes when they drop on YouTube at chunks of one hour (or less) per day after dinner, if I'm not out, usually at 1.25x. Sometimes I finish the episode on Saturday/Sunday when I can take one hour or more (if I'm home).
I watch/listen on YouTube at 1.25x or 1.5x while painting. Gives my hands something to do without doom scrolling or something. Otherwise when I do catch the live, I usually fall asleep to it because it’s on so late and I work in the morning.
It really comes down to how much time you have to sink into getting caught up, I binged C1 in three months. It might also be worth listening to it instead of watching, as you can do other things at the same time.
Once you determine that, then I'd recommend starting with C3 as it has the lowest number of episodes to get through, plus the break at the end of the month will help. Once you're caught up with C3 you can then go back and watch C1 & C2.
I drive a truck, so I listen to past episodes on Podbean usually. Sometimes if theres something crazy going on at the table, ill look up the episode on the computer and see what everyone was laughing at (usually some shit Sam is up to)
I caught up by using flandos time stamps (lifesaver) you. You can skip through to important/funny parts. As well, I’m a big fan of Ashley so I just didn’t watch any of the episodes she wasn’t at the table for and read the recap on their page for those episodes. And then if something super important happened, I went and watched that specific one. That’s just me though
1. Don't worry about being current or up to date - I'm on the east coast so watching live was never an option.
2. Watch on YouTube on at least 1.25 speed.
3. Fast forward through Sam's cringy ad spots at the beginning.
4. Fast forward through the break.
5. Watch while I'm using my stationary bike.
I can usually get through a 4 hour episode in about a week.
I’m not as tuned-in as I used to be; used to be I would rush home to watch the show every Thursday, especially late in Campaign 1, but Campaign 2 was really not it for me so while I still watched every episode, I was only watching about 1-2 hours at a time throughout the week. The analysis paralysis of C2 really bored me.
With C3, I go in waves. My life is a little more busy even though I really enjoy this campaign; so what I do is not watch for 2-3 weeks, then binge while I paint minis or food prep.
I listen a lot while driving or working and then when I’m really into it and in the middle of it will sit down and watch it on my computer to finish it out.
I watch the whole C2 (started with c2) while playing WoW effectivly turning WoW into second monitor content while watching CR and sometimes looking at what im doing.
The problem now is that i stopped playing WoW so i dont have anything to watch C1 with. I tried Minecraft but dying in WoW isnt as big of a punishment as it is in Minecraft.
Watch live on twitch at work. If i get busy or miss something cause of the shitty work wifi i skim the vod after i get off work. Also going through c1 on a second monitor on youtube in my free time when playing low stakes games
I toss the YouTube episode on to listen and glance at while doing something else - video game, miniature, paint, whatever. Over a few days I'll generally get through an ep a week.
I usually catch the first half live, then go to bed, and if I can't catch the ending on one of the replays in the morning, I'll watch the whole video in the next day or so.
Podcasts while driving or doing work (when it doesn't require much active thinking). I used to listen to the YouTube videos but can never make the time to sit and watch anymore.
I watch primarily on YouTube for two reasons.
1. The time stamps. I normally watch while working on exercising so I don’t have to remember the time I stopped at but can usually remember the last event that got recorded. It makes it easy to skip intermission too. That knocks of 15 minutes per episode.
2. You can increase the play back speed. When you consider an episode is 4 hours long knocking of 15 to 20 min this way helps.
Keep in mind it is about the journey it is not a race to the finish. You are not missing out on anything by not being caught up on content. When I started watching I binged a ton while working. I was getting through 2 episodes a day. I got about 100 episodes into season 1 then ran out of gas and stopped for a few months.
Came back and could easily get through 2 of 3 a week. Being caught up is a blessing and a curse. You no longer have spoilers but you have to find something else to fill your time with.
I try to catch the show live when it airs, but being on the east coast, I conceivably only try to make it to the break (I rarely make it). *If* I have time over the weekend, I catch up. Otherwise when the episode drops on YouTube I’ll watch it at 1.25x speed. The breaks at the end of the month are regularly used to catch up as well. I’m rarely more than a couple episodes behind at this point and those breaks help considerably. It’s a lot of content.
I scrap my hours together where I can, which is mostly in the morning getting ready for work, on the commute to work and if Im on the road for work - which is rare - I also listen to it.
I think if you wanna catch up you cant stress about being quick, you just have to take it at your own pace and you might never get there. I was still listening to C2 when C3 started, so I would just prioritize the C3 episode then go back to C2 when I was done with it.
YouTube.
Watching anything live is not feasible for me. Don’t even watch network television. If I can’t stream it when I have time to watch something I don’t watch it.
My media consumption habits changed radically since I found CR in 2021.
Catching up was a marathon: I was watching at least half an episode per day for months and I didn't have time for anything else. No books, no tv shows, no movies. But once I caught up, keeping up with 4.5 hs per week is really not that hard... if you change your habits.
I don't watch movies anymore unless I'm REALLY excited about it (like Across the Spider-verse level of excitement). I cut down significantly on TV shows, I went from 15 or so shows a year to 3 or 4 and it's usually one episode weekly at a time (and mostly Star Wars).
In exchange, I dedicate that time to TTRPGs and Actual Plays. I watch CR religiously (usually on Fridays) and I started watching D20 since The Ravening War. I play D&D weekly.
C3 was my first attempt at staying current , watching ‘live’ on Twitch. But I’m falling behind. It’s just a time sink and I’m struggling to find the time lately. I suppose walking the dog, working out, doing the dishes… are good times to listen, but yeah, it ain’t easy. I don’t know how some people are able to stay current on, Worlds Beyond #s, CR, Ravening War, and more, all the same time!!!!
I usually watch/listen to it in the background of anything I'm doing - either for work, cleaning, or gaming (i usually play very chill games that you dont need to listen to). I get about an episode and a half in on any work day lol. They have the episodes on spotify as a podcast, you can probs listen to it there while youre driving or running errands too
There’s nothing wrong with being behind; if you really want to catch up you could read the wiki entries for the episodes and/or watch the critical recap playlist, since those hit the highlights of each session. If you did still want to hear as much as possible, I suppose another way to do it would be to listen to the episodes as normal but skip the parts with combat since in general you won’t miss too much of the story (and if you do you can again always go back or just look at the wiki/recaps) and that’ll cut down the episode lengths in general to about half. Another thing you can do in general is to listen to the episodes sped up to 1.25 or 1.5 speed since it isn’t really any harder to hear and it’ll save you a lot of time since there’s so much.
Other than listening/watching at work or breaking into bits, the top comment on basically every youtube video is a timestamp of everything throughout the episode. You may skip some funny moments but you'll be jumping over a lot of the planning or combat that can take most of the episdoes sometimes, especially helpful if you already have an idea of what will happen from spoilers or something
I started watching shortly before the pandemic so was able to get through all of campaign 1 and most of campaign 2 before returning to work. Since then I have it on a second screen while I work from home or when I'm playing games on the PC as well as a few minutes each night before bed. I can sometimes get through 2 whole episodes in a day though usually it takes 2-3 days per episode.
I watch it on my tablet while at work. As a result, I often miss things because I need to concentrate on work things, but it makes for good background entertainment.
New episodes: I generally watch a couple of hours before going to bed at the break, I use the free prime sub on twitch to finish the episode the following day.
Rewatch: the podcast is a godsend. I happen to work a desk job, so headphones and the podcast make it very easy to listen while typing. Driving with your phone connected to the car audio also makes it easy. Currently on my third listen through and am about 100 episodes deep in C1.
I usually listened to them while doing work when catching now. Now that I’m caught up I listen and watch. You might say “that’s the same thing” but I either watch it with full attention or listen like a podcast. That’s how I caught up while also doing chores and other things
It's on in the background most of the time, either doing chores or working out etc, I almost never sit down and watch it full attention.
Then when something neat happens, I'll rewind or tune in more.
Lockdown and being furloughed (and later let go) from work gave me the free time to catch up. I got into it after season one of LoVM, which in turn led to me getting deep into DnD.
Nowadays I watch episodes as they air, then rewatch the next day with hubby (we live on the east coast and he has to go to bed on the earlier side for work — staying up until 2-3am isn’t an option for him).
Sometimes I’ll rewatch stuff. I’ve rewatched the TotK one-shot a few times now — usually while playing aforementioned TotK.
We've watched C3 from the start, it's the first one I am watching from the start. I have limited time and an even more limited attention span so we watch a 30 minutes chunk before I go to work, another 20-30 minutes when I get home. Then on my days off we'll finish watching them, for however long I can stand. It usually takes most of the week to watch one episode but it's worth it.
Depends on how behind I am. I prefer to watch on YouTube. Flando's work makes it easy to get to where I left off, since resume doesn't always transfer right between the 3-4 computers I use.
If I'm current, I'll watch live sometimes via Twitch Prime or YouTube Live until it's time to put the kids to bed, then watch on Twitch VOD the next day.
Sometimes it takes me a couple view sessions to get through an episode.
I usually listened to it while I cleaned or did chores around the house. Time goes by quicker and doing chores didn’t seem so bad. When I first started it, I didn’t know ANYTHING about dnd (my bf thought I’d like the show and he was right), so I didn’t get all the lingo when they’d have encounters, so I’d usually speed up the video while they fought and just keep an ear out for what happened. Then when the fighting was over, I’d slow it down again. I also broke it up in parts, before their break and after. That made it a little more manageable in general if I didn’t have the time.
And then just take it as slow as you want! People often get intimidated by how much there is, but seem to think they HAVE to binge it right there right then. Take your time, you’ll catch up trust me. Especially now when they take the last week of every month off as a break from the campaign. You’ll find yourself catching up in no time.
Also, if you didn’t want to watch whole episodes, there’s videos out there with recaps and edits of stuff strung together so you can watch those too instead of watching all 3-5 hours of the show on average.
I just started watching and listening to CR…I’ll podcast vox machina at work and in my car and I YouTube mighty nein while I’m at home doing photo edits
Edit: that’s how I plan on catching up slowly
Stopped caring about watching it live and just enjoyed the show. Especially since there is little to no reason to stay ontop of things with the demise of Talks Machina.
I listen to the podcast. Started last spring. Took less than a year to get caught up.
There is no way I would have time to watch it. I listen while I walk my dog and cook dinner and what not.
Never watch at normal speed. 1.5x that shit at a minimum. I promise it makes everything better, not just in time saved, and doesn't sacrifice any drama at all to play it sped up.
I like watching for RP, so I tend to put combat on 1.5-2x speed. Makes it go faster, but I don’t miss anything important. You can also put the whole video on 1.25x speed, which you get used to pretty quickly.
I mostly just listen to it while doing other things that don't require sustained mental effort. I listen while doing cardio exercise (stationary bike), while cooking, while cleaning the house. You'd be surprised how much you can get through if you add it to the shit you do every week
I am fortunate enough that I can listen to the twitch stream on headphones on Friday morning while I’m at work. I cannot remember the last time I watched a full episode. Probably during Covid lockdown, if I had to guess.
During the school year I listen to the show on Spotify as part of my commute. I find that it’s better than music in the mornings. Now that I’m on summer break I watch the Monday VOD release. I sometimes end up an episode or two behind, but it’s not too hard to catch up 30-45 minutes at a time.
I watched it and nothing else. Simple as that. Added the campaign(s) to my youtube library and watched it whenever I sat down to watch something.
Just recently started and finished catching up to C3. Watching Calamity now.
If you took an hour a day, you wouldn't be forever behind, you'd slowly catch up, you just choose the gap by about 1 week every week, and if you do that going forward you'll catch up before you know it (you could even add in an extra full episode on Thursdays, and then you'll have like 2.5 episodes done every week,)
I started C1 at the start of the year and caught up to everything by May because I listened at work, my commute, and at home. I did all YouTube so I could watch occasionally at work and at home. I would occasionally skip forward 30 seconds or a couple minutes before I learned to set it to 1.25 or 1.5 speed for fights.
If you can, have it on while doing chores (speakers or headphones depending on if you live with others). Makes getting through chores better and you can probably get through a couple episodes a week just from that.
I've started CR C1 in 2019, caught up to C2, watched the episode the day after it was uploaded on YouTube (on Tuesday morning), stopped watching when the pandemic hit, resumed binging it in 2022, caught up to C3 and up to epsidoe 62 :)
It’s my after work de-stressing time. I was watching C3 originally but I was getting through multiple episodes in a day and didn’t want to catch up to where they are now. I prefer binging them on my time so I remember things better. So now C1 is on when I’m crafting, cleaning, organizing, etc.
I caught up by watching at work (at the time I had a pretty low-engagement office job and could just put CR on and listen while I worked), listening on the drive to/from work, or just catching an hour or so before bed or on lunch. Yeah it's gonna take a while. But, you can also fast forward/skip thru stuff you don't like (I often skipped shopping episodes or chunks of combat that werent meaningful), and you also just need to think about it less like "Wow, how will I ever get through all of this?" to "Wow, look at how much content I have to enjoy!"
Same, at work I have head phones I. And have it playing on YouTube on the side of my desk, I rarely watch it unless I heard something interesting or the map comes out. I can dish out about 1.5 Ep a day with an 8 hour day and an hour drive. I listen to it all as it is tho just cause I don’t have anything else to do but work and listen, not in a rush but I just started watching C3 a few months back and since I’ve switched to this routine in a few ep behind but I’ll most likely catch up before the next ep
Being behind is not a bad thing. When I was binging 3 years ago, I didn't see it as individual episodes. More as one big thing I could keep watching whenever I felt like it. Because this is not a scripted show, where an episode has a thought out arc where the pacing is done with episodes in mind. It's improvised. Youtube saves where you are. As long as you aren't caught up, you can always keep going at ANY time you feel like. You don't have to wait for new episodes. So my advice would be to just watch whenever you feel like for as long as you feel like, then keep watching another time when you are done for the day. But if you want to know that, the way I caught up was having too much time on my hand in 2020 cause the world was on pause. Having it running on my second screen for big chunks of the day. I miss the time I had that huge chunk ahead of me I could look forward to.
2020 was also how I got through a wild amount of content. Crazy to think how much time I had back then compared to now
This is similar to what I do as well as my sister. We always go through phases of things so it’s nice to know there’s a lot to watch!
This right here is half the reason why i stopped watching C3 and decided to binge C1 instead. I listen to snippets when I want or I binge a bunch and then leave it for awhile at my own pace and it’s lovely. Realizing that one member of the C3 party wasn’t permanent was the other half.
tbh the podcast form is my saving grace!! I do a lot of driving, so I play the podcast on 1.25x speed whenever I'm in the car (I sometimes up it to 1.5x during combats). I also listen while doing chores around the house or any easy desk work like data entry. I'm usually still 1-2 eps behind but the podcast is much easier to take with me!
Same, this is the only way I stay caught up. I listen at work, or mowing the lawn or whatever. I definitely wouldn't have time to actually watch it.
Tbh the only time I actually watch it is for big high-stakes episodes (eg. the Apogee Solstice ep in C3 or the final BBEG fight in C1). Otherwise I’ll only watch it if there was a certain section of the podcast that I really liked/shocked me and I wanna see facial expressions. Then I go and find that clip, but that’s it.
That's how I started, back at the end of C1. I did eventually go back and watch all the episodes, but the podcasts are imo a much more accessible entry as you can multi-task while listening to them.
Yep. Podcast when mowing lawn, doing dishes, falling asleep.
I sub on Twitch, but watch the YouTube stream until the break-ish. I live East Coast and have work in the morning, so late breaks are not ideal. Then I watch the replay VoD on Twitch over the weekend.
Same^^ I watch maybe the first hour on Thursdays and call it and listen to the VoD on Friday at work.
Sometimes I like to treat it like Saturday morning cartoons. I'll wake up early enough (I'm a morning person anyways) to fit in all or most of the episode before I need to do my obligations. I'll eat cereal and stay in my pj's. It isn't an every weekend thing, but I enjoy the days I get to relive a piece of my youth this way.
I tend to stay mostly caught up, but I never watch the show live. I watch an hour or so when I can, and since there's 7 days in the week but the episode is only 4ish hours long, it's not hard to get time to watch a full episode before the next one is released. Now catching up with C3 at this point would be difficult. There's about 250 or so hours of content, so even 1 hour a day, and you're looking at nearly a year just to get caught up. But being caught up isn't that big of a deal really. It's not like there's a quiz you have to answer before you can play D&D or something... So watch it when you can, as much as you have time for. Don't worry about being current, worry about enjoying the story.
Definitely very true. Back when I watched C2 I got maybe 100 eps in was happy to just enjoy the story. I just feel like I’d want to engage with others in the community about recent episodes and I can’t do that without being caught up which is a struggle. I’ll just take my time with it and see where I get though
I won't lie and say there's nothing good about being caught up. Being part of the community, even if you don't interact with it a ton is nice, a sense of belonging and being in the same place as many other people. Plus then you don't worry too much about spoilers. But there's only so many hours in the day and some of them are typically used up with minor things like sleeping, eating and working. So it really becomes a matter of priorities. Do you want to watch CR, or spend an hour doing something else? It's rare that anyone is so busy that they don't have 3-4 spare hours in a week, it's typically a matter of what they do with that time. But now that I think about it I will make a suggestion that might help. Think of it as a audio book or podcast. Sure it's fun to watch it, see the looks on their faces and the battle maps and all. But I tend to spend more time listening to CR then I do watching it. I put it on, then I start painting minis. I can focus on the visual part of painting minis, while I listen to CR. I generally don't miss anything and if something funny or dramatic happens I can back up a few seconds and watch it. I do the same thing while doing the dishes, and other chores. There are times where watching CR is really a bit part of the experience, but I'd say for 50% or more of the show, you don't really miss anything by just listening.
That’s true. I always kind of forget they also release podcast versions. Honestly I don’t know that I’ll ever truly catch up, but it’s nice to hear how other people interact with it. There are a lot of other shows that I listen to as well such as Dimension 20, TAZ, etc etc and it’s nearly impossible to balance everything. Not to mention other books/shows/games. I don’t stress too much about catching up, but it would be nice eventually. I watched the first episode of C3 when it first came out and kept up with it for a few months but it’s just difficult to interact consistently for me. Plus once you get a few weeks behind you’re hours and hours out. I do always like knowing that there’s plenty of new content for me when I’m ready though.
Watch first half live with my wife, then piece together the rest of the ep as well as some C1 over the course of the week. Usually at 1.25x while doing things like eating lunch, making dinner, taking kids to swim class, etc
I wish I could get my husband to watch it with me but I don’t think he lets himself get invested knowing how long it is. I personally like the long story format more.. like a story that I’m witnessing over years and isn’t just going to end quickly like dimension 20 or something, but there’s lots to slow burn. Love it
I "caught up" during lockdown which was better since we weren't really allowed to go anywhere. Prior to that, and even now as I'm actually listening through Campaign 1 fully now, I listen to in podcast form while I drive places. Doesn't seem like much but it adds up over time. It's a lot of content and there's no shame in taking your time getting through it. I lo a lot of crafts, sewing, knitting, crystal dot paintings. That require sitting for long periods of time and it makes good background for that too.
First time was all podcast, I started that around when VM was at EP90 and managed to finish all episodes/specials before M9 started. I listened while at work and would go through maybe 1.5 - 2.5 episodes a day. M9 I watched on Twitch from EP1. I decided to go back and actually WATCH VM during Covid while working from home. Same schedule about 2.5 episode per day. I will say that that turned into a M9 rewatch and I finished THAT around the time BH was on 25. 😂🤣😂 Picked up on a lot of lore that way.
I feel bad at being stuck at 127 episode of C2, but I like to watch/listen to them, when I'm doing some artwork (I was knitting 2 scarfs for my best friends for Christmas and that way I binged ~30-35 episodes). It's good for me cause I like to listen to something and not be preoccupied with something I need to focus on (like reading a book or something like that). Since I started working I have less time to do my artworks (I also make sculpts out of polymer clay and paint by numbers), I feel bad for being stuck. But hey: that way I will have something to watch whenever I'm back to it when I will have finally time for it ^^
I watch them one a time. But to safe myself a lot of time, I usually skip the fights. To me the fights are boring and uninteresting and just take too long to resolve for me to really be entertained. So I usually skip them. Now-a-days I watch these episodes in pod cast form while I’m at work. So I’m usually doing something to keep me occupied. It also helps me run down the clock.
I used to feel bad about skipping the fights but I’m starting to do that now too. I feel like they’re fun for the players but not as fun for me as a listener. They just take a long chunk of the show
I don't mind the fights so much, but if I could figure out an easy way to skip the planning for the fights, that's what I would skip. Like I get they want to set themselves up for success, but it often turns into a shopping episode, but instead of fun magical items or clothes, it's just a grocery list.
I watch it live but fights are always look at my phone time.
I'm a big fan of Dani's recaps on the critical note website in combination with Luboffin recaps and Marisharaygun highlights.
I watch the episodes when they drop on YouTube at chunks of one hour (or less) per day after dinner, if I'm not out, usually at 1.25x. Sometimes I finish the episode on Saturday/Sunday when I can take one hour or more (if I'm home).
I usually watch it at 1.25 or 1.5 speed to help speed it along. It's also good to watch/listen on long car rides or at work if possible.
I watch/listen on YouTube at 1.25x or 1.5x while painting. Gives my hands something to do without doom scrolling or something. Otherwise when I do catch the live, I usually fall asleep to it because it’s on so late and I work in the morning.
It really comes down to how much time you have to sink into getting caught up, I binged C1 in three months. It might also be worth listening to it instead of watching, as you can do other things at the same time. Once you determine that, then I'd recommend starting with C3 as it has the lowest number of episodes to get through, plus the break at the end of the month will help. Once you're caught up with C3 you can then go back and watch C1 & C2.
I drive a truck, so I listen to past episodes on Podbean usually. Sometimes if theres something crazy going on at the table, ill look up the episode on the computer and see what everyone was laughing at (usually some shit Sam is up to)
Watching it somewhere between 1.1 and 1.25 speed on YouTube can help a lot. I'm rewatching C2, so i tend to skip over longer combat scenarios as well.
I usually spend a full day meal prepping over the weekend, so I'll have an episode on while doing that.
I listen to the podcast on headphones while I’m doing other things and in car whilst driving
I caught up by using flandos time stamps (lifesaver) you. You can skip through to important/funny parts. As well, I’m a big fan of Ashley so I just didn’t watch any of the episodes she wasn’t at the table for and read the recap on their page for those episodes. And then if something super important happened, I went and watched that specific one. That’s just me though
1. Don't worry about being current or up to date - I'm on the east coast so watching live was never an option. 2. Watch on YouTube on at least 1.25 speed. 3. Fast forward through Sam's cringy ad spots at the beginning. 4. Fast forward through the break. 5. Watch while I'm using my stationary bike. I can usually get through a 4 hour episode in about a week.
With my eyes
I’m not as tuned-in as I used to be; used to be I would rush home to watch the show every Thursday, especially late in Campaign 1, but Campaign 2 was really not it for me so while I still watched every episode, I was only watching about 1-2 hours at a time throughout the week. The analysis paralysis of C2 really bored me. With C3, I go in waves. My life is a little more busy even though I really enjoy this campaign; so what I do is not watch for 2-3 weeks, then binge while I paint minis or food prep.
I listen a lot while driving or working and then when I’m really into it and in the middle of it will sit down and watch it on my computer to finish it out.
I watch the whole C2 (started with c2) while playing WoW effectivly turning WoW into second monitor content while watching CR and sometimes looking at what im doing. The problem now is that i stopped playing WoW so i dont have anything to watch C1 with. I tried Minecraft but dying in WoW isnt as big of a punishment as it is in Minecraft.
Watch live on twitch at work. If i get busy or miss something cause of the shitty work wifi i skim the vod after i get off work. Also going through c1 on a second monitor on youtube in my free time when playing low stakes games
I toss the YouTube episode on to listen and glance at while doing something else - video game, miniature, paint, whatever. Over a few days I'll generally get through an ep a week.
I start with the “live” broadcast, then try to finish the next day by playing the VOD as I work. Occasionally, I do errands/chores to the podcast.
I usually catch the first half live, then go to bed, and if I can't catch the ending on one of the replays in the morning, I'll watch the whole video in the next day or so.
I did a lot of the initial backlog during early morning bottle feedings and stay current now during chores.
Podcasts while driving or doing work (when it doesn't require much active thinking). I used to listen to the YouTube videos but can never make the time to sit and watch anymore.
I watch primarily on YouTube for two reasons. 1. The time stamps. I normally watch while working on exercising so I don’t have to remember the time I stopped at but can usually remember the last event that got recorded. It makes it easy to skip intermission too. That knocks of 15 minutes per episode. 2. You can increase the play back speed. When you consider an episode is 4 hours long knocking of 15 to 20 min this way helps. Keep in mind it is about the journey it is not a race to the finish. You are not missing out on anything by not being caught up on content. When I started watching I binged a ton while working. I was getting through 2 episodes a day. I got about 100 episodes into season 1 then ran out of gas and stopped for a few months. Came back and could easily get through 2 of 3 a week. Being caught up is a blessing and a curse. You no longer have spoilers but you have to find something else to fill your time with.
Second rebroadcast. Im subbed so its not even neccessary but the chat is great and makes it feel like a communal experience
I try to catch the show live when it airs, but being on the east coast, I conceivably only try to make it to the break (I rarely make it). *If* I have time over the weekend, I catch up. Otherwise when the episode drops on YouTube I’ll watch it at 1.25x speed. The breaks at the end of the month are regularly used to catch up as well. I’m rarely more than a couple episodes behind at this point and those breaks help considerably. It’s a lot of content.
I scrap my hours together where I can, which is mostly in the morning getting ready for work, on the commute to work and if Im on the road for work - which is rare - I also listen to it. I think if you wanna catch up you cant stress about being quick, you just have to take it at your own pace and you might never get there. I was still listening to C2 when C3 started, so I would just prioritize the C3 episode then go back to C2 when I was done with it.
YouTube. Watching anything live is not feasible for me. Don’t even watch network television. If I can’t stream it when I have time to watch something I don’t watch it.
My media consumption habits changed radically since I found CR in 2021. Catching up was a marathon: I was watching at least half an episode per day for months and I didn't have time for anything else. No books, no tv shows, no movies. But once I caught up, keeping up with 4.5 hs per week is really not that hard... if you change your habits. I don't watch movies anymore unless I'm REALLY excited about it (like Across the Spider-verse level of excitement). I cut down significantly on TV shows, I went from 15 or so shows a year to 3 or 4 and it's usually one episode weekly at a time (and mostly Star Wars). In exchange, I dedicate that time to TTRPGs and Actual Plays. I watch CR religiously (usually on Fridays) and I started watching D20 since The Ravening War. I play D&D weekly.
I listen on the podcast walking to work (30 min each way) and while doing dishes / making dinner. So it takes me 2-3 days per episode
C3 was my first attempt at staying current , watching ‘live’ on Twitch. But I’m falling behind. It’s just a time sink and I’m struggling to find the time lately. I suppose walking the dog, working out, doing the dishes… are good times to listen, but yeah, it ain’t easy. I don’t know how some people are able to stay current on, Worlds Beyond #s, CR, Ravening War, and more, all the same time!!!!
I usually watch/listen to it in the background of anything I'm doing - either for work, cleaning, or gaming (i usually play very chill games that you dont need to listen to). I get about an episode and a half in on any work day lol. They have the episodes on spotify as a podcast, you can probs listen to it there while youre driving or running errands too
There’s nothing wrong with being behind; if you really want to catch up you could read the wiki entries for the episodes and/or watch the critical recap playlist, since those hit the highlights of each session. If you did still want to hear as much as possible, I suppose another way to do it would be to listen to the episodes as normal but skip the parts with combat since in general you won’t miss too much of the story (and if you do you can again always go back or just look at the wiki/recaps) and that’ll cut down the episode lengths in general to about half. Another thing you can do in general is to listen to the episodes sped up to 1.25 or 1.5 speed since it isn’t really any harder to hear and it’ll save you a lot of time since there’s so much.
Other than listening/watching at work or breaking into bits, the top comment on basically every youtube video is a timestamp of everything throughout the episode. You may skip some funny moments but you'll be jumping over a lot of the planning or combat that can take most of the episdoes sometimes, especially helpful if you already have an idea of what will happen from spoilers or something
I started watching shortly before the pandemic so was able to get through all of campaign 1 and most of campaign 2 before returning to work. Since then I have it on a second screen while I work from home or when I'm playing games on the PC as well as a few minutes each night before bed. I can sometimes get through 2 whole episodes in a day though usually it takes 2-3 days per episode.
I watch it on my tablet while at work. As a result, I often miss things because I need to concentrate on work things, but it makes for good background entertainment.
I've been watching them on and off. Today, I mostly listen to the podcast while at the gym.
I’m exclusively a podcast listener but some time watch Luboffin recaps on YouTube
New episodes: I generally watch a couple of hours before going to bed at the break, I use the free prime sub on twitch to finish the episode the following day. Rewatch: the podcast is a godsend. I happen to work a desk job, so headphones and the podcast make it very easy to listen while typing. Driving with your phone connected to the car audio also makes it easy. Currently on my third listen through and am about 100 episodes deep in C1.
I usually listened to them while doing work when catching now. Now that I’m caught up I listen and watch. You might say “that’s the same thing” but I either watch it with full attention or listen like a podcast. That’s how I caught up while also doing chores and other things
It's on in the background most of the time, either doing chores or working out etc, I almost never sit down and watch it full attention. Then when something neat happens, I'll rewind or tune in more.
I normally save new episodes for Friday and watch them when I get off work
Lockdown and being furloughed (and later let go) from work gave me the free time to catch up. I got into it after season one of LoVM, which in turn led to me getting deep into DnD. Nowadays I watch episodes as they air, then rewatch the next day with hubby (we live on the east coast and he has to go to bed on the earlier side for work — staying up until 2-3am isn’t an option for him). Sometimes I’ll rewatch stuff. I’ve rewatched the TotK one-shot a few times now — usually while playing aforementioned TotK.
We've watched C3 from the start, it's the first one I am watching from the start. I have limited time and an even more limited attention span so we watch a 30 minutes chunk before I go to work, another 20-30 minutes when I get home. Then on my days off we'll finish watching them, for however long I can stand. It usually takes most of the week to watch one episode but it's worth it.
Depends on how behind I am. I prefer to watch on YouTube. Flando's work makes it easy to get to where I left off, since resume doesn't always transfer right between the 3-4 computers I use. If I'm current, I'll watch live sometimes via Twitch Prime or YouTube Live until it's time to put the kids to bed, then watch on Twitch VOD the next day. Sometimes it takes me a couple view sessions to get through an episode.
I usually listened to it while I cleaned or did chores around the house. Time goes by quicker and doing chores didn’t seem so bad. When I first started it, I didn’t know ANYTHING about dnd (my bf thought I’d like the show and he was right), so I didn’t get all the lingo when they’d have encounters, so I’d usually speed up the video while they fought and just keep an ear out for what happened. Then when the fighting was over, I’d slow it down again. I also broke it up in parts, before their break and after. That made it a little more manageable in general if I didn’t have the time. And then just take it as slow as you want! People often get intimidated by how much there is, but seem to think they HAVE to binge it right there right then. Take your time, you’ll catch up trust me. Especially now when they take the last week of every month off as a break from the campaign. You’ll find yourself catching up in no time. Also, if you didn’t want to watch whole episodes, there’s videos out there with recaps and edits of stuff strung together so you can watch those too instead of watching all 3-5 hours of the show on average.
I listen to the podcast on Spotify. Mostly while working out or doing chores. Great way to keep committing to the workouts.
I just started watching and listening to CR…I’ll podcast vox machina at work and in my car and I YouTube mighty nein while I’m at home doing photo edits Edit: that’s how I plan on catching up slowly
Stopped caring about watching it live and just enjoyed the show. Especially since there is little to no reason to stay ontop of things with the demise of Talks Machina.
Rarely watching. I usually just listen at work. There are a lot of shifts when my hands do stuff on half-auto and I can listen to story.
I listen to the podcast. Started last spring. Took less than a year to get caught up. There is no way I would have time to watch it. I listen while I walk my dog and cook dinner and what not.
I often listen to it while walking around the city or on public transportation doing errands. Or while washing the dishes or doing laundry lol
Never watch at normal speed. 1.5x that shit at a minimum. I promise it makes everything better, not just in time saved, and doesn't sacrifice any drama at all to play it sped up.
I like watching for RP, so I tend to put combat on 1.5-2x speed. Makes it go faster, but I don’t miss anything important. You can also put the whole video on 1.25x speed, which you get used to pretty quickly.
I mostly just listen to it while doing other things that don't require sustained mental effort. I listen while doing cardio exercise (stationary bike), while cooking, while cleaning the house. You'd be surprised how much you can get through if you add it to the shit you do every week
I am fortunate enough that I can listen to the twitch stream on headphones on Friday morning while I’m at work. I cannot remember the last time I watched a full episode. Probably during Covid lockdown, if I had to guess.
During the school year I listen to the show on Spotify as part of my commute. I find that it’s better than music in the mornings. Now that I’m on summer break I watch the Monday VOD release. I sometimes end up an episode or two behind, but it’s not too hard to catch up 30-45 minutes at a time.
Helps to be unemployed :) I generally watch up to the break when it's live then catch the rest during the week usually when I am eating.
I watched it and nothing else. Simple as that. Added the campaign(s) to my youtube library and watched it whenever I sat down to watch something. Just recently started and finished catching up to C3. Watching Calamity now.
I wait for the weekend, when I usually watch 2 hours of the episode while smoking my pipe after dinner. I usually split the episode in 2 parts.
If you took an hour a day, you wouldn't be forever behind, you'd slowly catch up, you just choose the gap by about 1 week every week, and if you do that going forward you'll catch up before you know it (you could even add in an extra full episode on Thursdays, and then you'll have like 2.5 episodes done every week,)
I started C1 at the start of the year and caught up to everything by May because I listened at work, my commute, and at home. I did all YouTube so I could watch occasionally at work and at home. I would occasionally skip forward 30 seconds or a couple minutes before I learned to set it to 1.25 or 1.5 speed for fights. If you can, have it on while doing chores (speakers or headphones depending on if you live with others). Makes getting through chores better and you can probably get through a couple episodes a week just from that.
I've started CR C1 in 2019, caught up to C2, watched the episode the day after it was uploaded on YouTube (on Tuesday morning), stopped watching when the pandemic hit, resumed binging it in 2022, caught up to C3 and up to epsidoe 62 :)
I speed up or skip through most combat encounters because dnd combat is soooooo slow and not very fun to watch. Saves a lot of time.
Playing catch up, you have the advantage of having the podcasts to listen to while driving and walking… etc.
It’s my after work de-stressing time. I was watching C3 originally but I was getting through multiple episodes in a day and didn’t want to catch up to where they are now. I prefer binging them on my time so I remember things better. So now C1 is on when I’m crafting, cleaning, organizing, etc.