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Matt Mercer’s Best Critical Role Quote Is Still the Most Inspiring Line in D&D History
Matthew Mercer’s advice to aspiring Dungeons & Dragons players and Dungeon Masters is that experience comes through trial and error: “sometimes you have to fail to learn better”. The article argues that accepting mistakes helps everyone focus on creating a story together, rather than trying to make every moment perfect.
In a January 2026 interview with Brennan Lee Mulligan, Mercer discussed how he prepares tabletop sessions. The writer relates that advice to their own early experience as a Dungeon Master, when tightly scripted plans and anxiety about players going off course led to unfair decisions and made games more stressful. The article says players can also overthink choices, slowing the game and putting pressure on the whole table.
In short
- Mercer says failure is part of learning to run games.
- Perfectionism can make tabletop sessions stressful.
- Shared storytelling matters more than following a script.
Explained simply
Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop role-playing game in which one person, the Dungeon Master, describes the world and runs its challenges, while the other players act as characters in a shared adventure. The rules guide what happens, but the group also makes up the story as it goes.
Matthew Mercer is a Dungeon Master and performer known for running Critical Role, a series in which a group of players broadcast their D&D games. His advice is relevant to both people running games and those playing characters, because their choices and reactions shape the session together.
A game can take an unexpected turn when players make a surprising choice or a plan fails. Understanding how groups handle those moments helps explain why flexibility and learning through experience can matter to the way a game unfolds.