Critical Role

Critical Role is an American web series produced by Geek & Sundry in which a group of professional voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons. The series is broadcast live on Thursdays on the Geek & Sundry Twitch.tv, with episodes later made available on Geek & Sundry's official website and YouTube channel.

Format

Matthew Mercer serves as the show's Dungeon Master, running an ongoing campaign that is the basis for the show. The campaign began two years prior to the series as a one-time Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition game for Liam O'Brien's birthday.^[1][2][3][4] The group enjoyed this initial game so much that they continued to play, switching to Pathfinder, and continuing their story as the Super High Intensity Team. Felicia Day had heard about their private home game from Ashley Johnson and approached the group about doing it on-stream with Geek & Sundry.^[2][4] In order to streamline gameplay for the live show, the game's characters were converted from Pathfinder to Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition before the web series began airing on 12 March 2015.^[5]

Critical Role is filmed with three cameras and is a mixture of a traditional weekly show and a modern gaming Twitch stream.^[3] Each episode runs from 3 to 5 hours,^[6] is streamed live, and is made available on Geek & Sundry's Twitch channel immediately afterward to their more than 36,000 subscribers and to their Youtube channel the following Monday.^[7]

A number of the streams have also served as a donation drive to support nonprofit organizations such as St Jude's, 826LA, Extra Life, and Doctors Without Borders.

Campaign structure

The Critical Role storyline occurs in a campaign made up of a series of story arcs that are played over multiple episodes. Between the major story arcs, the characters rest, resupply, or go on side quests. In addition, each character has a backstory, an unfinished part of their history that enters into the campaign at irregular intervals.

Pre-series history

The series takes place in the world of Exandria, primarily in the continent of Tal'Dorei, and follows the exploits of an adventuring party known as Vox Machina, previously known as the Super High-Intensity Team, a rag-tag group of mercenaries originally formed in the swamp-town of Stillben. In their adventures prior to the start of the series, the group saved the family of Uriel, the ruler of Emon. In appreciation, Uriel gave the group seats on the city council, and provided them with a residence called Greyskull Keep, which is located just outside the city. Episode 36, titled Winter's Crest in Whitestone, features a summary of the pre-series history, with artwork created by Wendy Sullivan Green and voice-overs provided by the cast.^[8]

On-stream story arcs

1. The Kraghammer story arc (episodes 1–16) takes place primarily in the Underdark, and culminates in a battle between Vox Machina and a beholder named K'varn who is controlling an entire city of Illithid.
2. The Vasselheim story arc (episodes 17–23) splits the party into two groups to prove their worth to the "Slayer's Take," a local adventurer's guild in the continent of Vasselheim. This arc features guest appearances by Felicia Day, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Wil Wheaton, and Will Friedle, adding a new twist to the now-divided adventuring band. This arc also includes the first backstory related episode (episode 22), as Keyleth visits a related druid tribe.
3. The Briarwood story arc (episodes 24–38) is dedicated to following Percival's backstory, and brings the adventurers up against Lord and Lady Briarwood who are ruling in Percy's ancestral home, Whitestone. The powerful couple turns out to be a vampire and a necromancer, and Vox Machina must stop them from completing a ritual that threatens to endanger the entire kingdom.
4. The Chroma Conclave story arc (episodes 39–83) begins when four ancient chromatic dragons attack Tal'Dorei and divide the kingdom between them. In order to defeat the dragons, Osysa—the gynosphinx who leads the Slayer's Take—sends Vox Machina on a quest to obtain "The Vestiges of Divergence": a series of famed magic items that are scattered throughout the world.
5. The Taryon Darrington story arc (episodes 84–99) focuses on Taryon Darrington, an inexperienced aspiring author and adventurer that Vox Machina shortly meets in the city of Ank'Harel in the continent of Marquet after an abrupt exit by Scanlan Shorthalt from the group. Together with Taryon, Vox Machina travel to Vesrah to finish Keyleth's Aramente, to the Nine Hells to kill the Rakshasa Hotis and to Taryon's home Deastok in the continent of Wildemount to confront his father.
6. The Cult of Vecna story arc (episodes 99–present) revisits the mysterious and dangerous artifact that was activated beneath Whitestone Castle during the Briarwood story arc, and features Scanlan rejoining the team to fight the mysteriously returned Lady Briarwood, who is leading a cult based in the Shadowfell that seeks to summon the evil lich demigod Vecna. The first two episodes feature guest appearances by Jon Heder as Lionel "Chod" Gayheart, a slow-witted but kind-hearted half-orc "bardbarian."

Cast and characters

• Matthew Mercer as the Dungeon Master^[4]
• Travis Willingham as Grog Strongjaw, the goliath barbarian/fighter^[4]
• Marisha Ray as Keyleth, the half-elf druid^[4]
• Taliesin Jaffe as Percival "Percy" Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, the human gunslinger^[4]
• Ashley Johnson as Pike Trickfoot, the gnome cleric^[4][9]
• Liam O'Brien as Vax'ildan, the half-elf rogue/paladin^[4]
• Laura Bailey as Vex'ahlia, the half-elf ranger/rogue^[4]
• Sam Riegel as Scanlan Shorthalt, the gnome bard; and Taryon "Tary" Darrington, the human artificer^[4]

Former

• Orion Acaba as Tiberius Stormwind, the dragonborn sorcerer (episodes 1−28)

Guests

• Felicia Day as Lyra, the human wizard
• Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Zahra Hydrus, the tiefling warlock
• Wil Wheaton as Thorbir Falbek, the dwarf fighter
• Will Friedle as Kashaw Vesh, the human cleric
• Kit Buss as Lillith Anioska Daturai, the tiefling wizard
• Chris Hardwick as Gern Blanston, the dragonborn wizard
• Jason C. Miller as Garthok, the half-orc rogue
• Christopher Perkins as Shale, the goliath fighter
• Patrick Rothfuss as Kerrek, the human paladin
• Noelle Stevenson as Tova, the dwarven blood hunter and werebear
• Jon Heder as Lionel "Chod" Gayheart, the half-orc bard/barbarian
• Darin De Paul as Ethrid "Sprigg" Brokenbranch, the gnome arcane trickster

Reception

Critical response

As of January 2016, each episode of the show is watched for more than a million minutes on Twitch, totaling over 37 million minutes watched for the whole series.^[1][10] Additionally, the YouTube archived videos have over 3 million views.^[10] It has amassed over 68 million views as of the 99th episode.^[11]

In a January 2016 article, Polygon described Critical Role as a "thoroughly modern" show with a business model that is still developing.^[1]

The show has caught the attention of the publishers of Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast, who discussed it at length on two occasions on their official D&D podcast, along with cast members Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, Liam O'Brien, Laura Bailey and former member Orion Acaba.^[12][13] In an interview with the online gaming magazine Polygon, lead D&D designer Mike Mearls commented about the show, stating "It was really cool, as a guy who works on Dungeons & Dragons, to open up my Twitch app on my iPad and see Dungeons & Dragons in the first row".^[14]

Viewer responses to the show have been overwhelmingly positive,^[4] with many fans creating content such as fanart, fan fiction, character-inspired music, and fan-created merchandise for the show. Fans also send in many gifts for the cast and crew, resulting in occasional "Critmas" episodes during which the gifts are opened and distributed.^[9]

The cast of Critical Role are active participants on sci-fi/comics convention circuits, appearing for panels and signings at San Diego and New York Comic Cons.^[2] For the 2015 New York con "critical rolls" were available from one of the food vendors.^[15]

Accolades

Spin-offs

Webcomic

Geek & Sundry produced a six-panel series of webcomics weekly from November to December 2015 that describes a "Winter's Crest Festival" that occurred pre-series. The webcomics are written by cast members Marisha Ray and Taliesin Jaffe, and feature artwork by Wendy Sullivan Green.^[17]

Talks Machina

On September 28, 2016, Geek & Sundry announced Talks Machina, a fan-centered after/talk show hosted by Brian Wayne Foster broadcast live on Twitch on Tuesdays, in which the latest episode is discussed with the cast of Critical Role.^[18][19]

Campaign setting books

On August 8, 2016, Green Ronin Publishing announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with Geek & Sundry to release roleplaying game sourcebooks based on Critical Role. The announcement was made by Chris Pramas, president of Green Ronin and Ryan Copple, General Manager of Geek & Sundry, live on the 62nd episode, Uninviting Waters, in Gen Con 2016.^[20] All books in the series will use the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition rules. The books will be written by Matthew Mercer and will be set in the world of Exandria.

The first book titled Critical Role: Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting is set on the continent of Tal'Dorei where most of Vox Machina’s adventures take place.^[21] The hardback edition will be released in Gen Con 2017 in August 17, 2017,^[22] while the PDF version was released on July 17, 2017.^[23][24] On July 14, 2017, Green Ronin revealed the cover by Aaron Riley of Critical Role: Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting on Twitter.^[25]

Podcast

On the 100th episode of Critical Role, the launch of the Critical Role podcast was announced.^[11][26] It is available on iTunes, Google Play Music and at the Geek & Sundry website.^[27]

Comic book

On July 22, 2017, at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con International, a comic book that tells the tales of the beginning of Vox Machina pre-stream and pre-game was announced.^[28][29][30] It will be written by Matthew Colville, drawn by Olivia Samson (a long-time member of the Critical Role community) and colored and lettered by Chris Northrop.^[31] It is scheduled to be released before the end of 2017.^[32]

Charity involvement

The October 16, 2015 Extra Life fundraiser episode raised over $20,000 for the Children's Miracle Network during the broadcast.^[33] This charity episode included a reappearance of the Critical Rejects, as well as three members of the Critical Role cast, Liam O'Brien, Marisha Ray, and Orion Acaba.

During the show, viewers are invited to donate money to 826LA, which is later provided in a lump sum to the charity.^[34] Donation amounts and messages appear live on the stream, and on earlier episodes, a list of donors was read at the end of each session. During Geek & Sundry's 2015 Extra Life fundraiser, a special interactive episode was broadcast. This episode alone brought in over $20,000 for the Children's Miracle Network, and the event as a whole raised over $76,000. In late November 2015, Geek & Sundry's Twitch channel held a special Doctors Without Borders fundraiser, with nearly half of the $10,000 goal being raised during the 4-hour Critical Role broadcast. In December 2015, the cast released a "Critter's Guide to Critmas" in response to the flood of gifts they were receiving from fans, asking them to instead donate to a variety of charities, with a cast member sponsoring each charity.^[35]

References

External links

• Critical Role at Geek and Sundry
• Critical Role podcast at Geek & Sundry