‘Critical Role’: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Too Afraid to Ask
This private game among friends turned into one of the largest and most recognizable pieces of D&D based media in the world.
From a relatively little known podcast for only the hard-corest of nerds, to a popular animated series, Critical Role brought Dungeons and Dragons into the center of popular culture and helped spark a whole new kind of entertainment with ‘actual play’ shows and podcasts. But what is Critical Role, exactly? How did it get so big? And why are they were so many characters? Let’s break it down.
What is Critical Role?
Critical Role is a weekly streaming web series and podcast where a group of professional voice actors play Dungeons and Dragons for a live audience. They use their professional skills for voice acting and improv to react to the fantastical events described by Dungeon Master, Matt Mercer, in real-time. And as a group unravel the mysteries of their world fight monsters, and occasionally save the entire world.
The Dungeons and Dragons ruleset gives the game structure, making it an adventure with stakes, strategy, and consequences. But this doesn’t mean that Critical Role is inaccessible to potential fans without any D&D experience of their own. The rules and rolls are well explained, and the cast of players keep things fun. In fact, for many fans, Critical Role was one of the things that inspired them to play D&D themselves.
“How do you want to do this?.”
– Matt Mercer
And so, since 2015 the Critical Role team has produced over a thousand hours worth of content over the course of three different adventures as well as an animated streaming series based on the first campaign, a D&D sourcebook based on their world, and hundreds of thousands of viewers and listeners weekly. It’s fair to say that Critical Role turned a simple game of pretend with friends into an entire phenomenon.
The Story of Production
Like most of our D&D campaigns, Critical Role started as a regular game, played among friends, with no viewers or listeners at all. It wasn’t “Critical Role” at all, it was just your average weekly gaming session.
After hearing about this game- featuring some of the biggest voice actors out there- from player Ashley Johnson, Felicia Day approached the group about playing a live-streamed game that would air on Geek & Sundry. And so the private game turned into a public one.
They officially began streaming on March 12, 2015, two years after the campaign had started. Critical Role was hosted by Geek and Sundry until February 2019, at which point they moved to their own production company, hosting their show primarily on YouTube and Twitch.
On March 4th, 2019, the Critical Role team launched a Kickstarter campaign intending to fund a twenty-two-minute long animated special based on the adventures of the first game, Vox Machina. But when the campaign earned more than anyone could have anticipated the single special was turned into a full ten-episode season.
The first season of The Legend of Vox Machina premiered in January 2022. And there is a second series in the works; Mighty Nein will be based on the second Critical Role campaign.
Who Has Been in Critical Role Over the Years?
All three campaigns have featured Matthew Mercer as the Dungeon Master.
Campaign One Starred:
Ashley Johnson as Pike Trickfoot
Travis Willingham as Grog Strongjaw
Laura Bailey as Vex’alia
Liam O’Brien as Vax’ildan
Taliesin Jaffe as Percy de Rolo III
Marisha Ray as Keyleth
Sam Riegel as Scanlan Shorthalt and Taryon Gary Darrington
Orion Acaba as Tiberius Stormwind for episodes 1-27, after which he left the show.
Campaign Two Starred:
Ashley Johnson as Yasha Nydoorin
Travis Willingham as Fjord Stone
Laura Bailey as Jester Lavorre
Liam O’Brien as Caleb Widogast
Taliesin Jaffe as Mollymauk Tealeaf for the first 26 episodes and then Caduceus Clay from episode 28 on
Marisha Ray as Beauregard Lionett
Sam Riegel Nott the Brave
Campaign Three Stars:
Ashley Johnson as Fearne Calloway
Travis Willingham as Chetney Pock O’Pea and Sir Bertand Bell
Laura Bailey as Imogen Temult
Liam O’Brien as Orym
Taliesen Jaffe as Ashton Greymoore
Marisha Ray as Laudna
Sam Riegel as Fresh Cut Grass
Why is Critical Role‘s Show Called Vox Machina?
Since Critical Role is a show based on D&D, the adventures of a given group will eventually come to an end, making room for the players to make new characters and have new adventures. Vox Machina is the first such group. So while “Critical Role” is the entire show, The Legend of Vox Machina is a show based on just one party’s adventures.
Similarly, Mighty Nein will also be a Critical Role production, but it will feature an entirely different group of characters. These characters will be voiced by the same core group of voice actors as they bring their characters to life once again.
The third campaign of Critical Role, Bells Hells, first aired in October 2021 and is still ongoing. And while there doesn’t seem to be any immediate plan to bring this campaign to animation, the show’s popularity many, many more episodes, both in the weekly streaming game and in animation.
What is your favorite Critical Role campaign? Are you a Critter? Did Critical Role inspire you to play D&D for yourself, or did a love of D&D bring you to Critical Role? Let us know in the comments!
Happy adventuring!
