I am a bit old, and never got why so many people watch “actual play”. I’ve done it once or twice to get the mechanic of a game, but found the experience more technical/boring than fun.
I get having a guest or candidate player watching an in person to see how rpg work, or whether they click with the group, but somehow watching video of strangers playing RPG doesn’t sounds fun to me. But I might miss something considering how popular these actual plays are
- Good group dynamics
- A DM/GM who strives for verisimilitude (particularly at the expense of overdone tropes)
- Players who exhibit some level of system expertise and are engaged in all pillars of gameplay
- Clear audio and good editing to remove the long silences and crosstalk
- GM does creative things in terms of how they run their game that I feel like I can learn from