About

1. For most productions, we will always ask before writing a review/critique; if the showrunner declines, the show won’t be reviewed.
   
   For larger-scale, in-studio productions and/or productions with significant financial backing (productions like Critical Role, Dimension 20, Worlds Beyond Number, Encounter Party, Glass Cannon, The Adventure Zone, Friends At The Table, etc.), the “ask before reviewing” guideline may not apply.
   
2. We do not engage in bigoted or mean-spirited conduct as reviewers. We are not here to dunk on shows or people, but rather to thoughtfully and critically engage with Actual Play as an art form.
   
3. We will not accept money, goods, or services from shows, showrunners, or any team member of a show in exchange for a review.
   
4. We do not accept reviews or critique written using generative AI in any capacity. Likewise, we do not review or critique shows that use generative AI in any capacity.

The honest answer is that I have no idea. I’m disabled and my conditions frequently limit my energy and physical abilities for unpredictable amounts of time. I could throw out my ideal update schedule here, but I’m almost certain I won’t be able to keep to it, so I think it’s safest to say that you’ll hear from me when you hear from me.

I plan to select APs for review by being in conversation with showrunners. (Exceptions may be made for large-scale in-studio productions or productions with significant financial backing.)

Actual Play is a relatively small and niche art form, and a lot of us working in AP know each other to some degree. I am aware that many people may not want their art reviewed critically, and I’m not out to review/critique at any cost. If I ask someone if they/their team are open to a review and they say no, I won’t review that show.

Drop me a line at criticalbearings at gmail dot com and let's talk!

Consider subscribing and sharing posts when they’re published! Eventually I might have the option to financially contribute, but I want to publish at least a couple of pieces first. If it’s really important to you to throw money my way and support my ability to pay guest writers, you can always tip me on Ko-fi.

Short answer: maybe? 

Long answer:

Please do not attempt to solicit a review/critique of your show by email, DM, blog comment, personal conversation, or other means outside of the form linked below. Solicitations quickly become overwhelming and will greatly lower the chances of your show ever being reviewed on the site.

This is a passion project. That means I’m going to write primarily about shows and topics that I am interested in writing about, that I have likely placed in mental conversation with other art, culture, philosophy, etc. That doesn’t mean that I don’t think your show “deserves” a review!

As I said above, I am disabled in ways that limit my energy and physical capacity. I have no idea how quickly I’ll be able to write, how much I’ll be able to write, and how long it will take my ideas to cook. I cannot and will not try to force myself to keep up with a breakneck pace of “content creation” that is increasingly set by capitalist crap-it-out machines. I will not try to produce these reviews on any timetable but my own. While I’m sure I will be able to bang out a review now and then, in all likelihood I will simply not be able to work at a pace that allows me to publish a high volume of reviews on the site. This means there will probably be a backlog of shows that I want to get to, and that there is more AP out there that I want to write about than I’ll ultimately be able to consider here. 

All that being said: I am always on the lookout for new shows and for shows that opt-in to being discussed critically. I do want there to be some a streamlined mechanism for people to signal interest in being reviewed, and when I’ve previously asked this question on social media, it always brings in shows that I haven’t heard of before and am intrigued by. With that in mind, showrunners may fill out this form to indicate they are open to/interested in their show being reviewed on the blog. I encourage showrunners to discuss this with the show’s cast and crew before filling out the form. Filling out this form does not guarantee a review on this site, and if your show is reviewed, it will likely take a while from the time you submit your interest form for a review to be published.