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Critical Role

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Critical Role
GenreFantasy
Dungeons & Dragons
Created byMatthew Mercer
StarringAshley Johnson
Laura Bailey
Liam O'Brien
Marisha Ray
Matthew Mercer
Sam Riegel
Taliesin Jaffe
Travis Willingham
Orion Acaba
ComposersJason C. Miller
Kevin MacLeod
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes52
Production
ProducerLucas Eubank
Production locationsLos Angeles, California
Running time180-240 minutes
Original release
NetworkTwitch.tv
Geek & Sundry
Release13 March 2015 (2015-03-13)

Critical Role is an American web series produced by Geek & Sundry in which a group of professional voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons.[1] The series is broadcast live on Thursdays on the Geek and Sundry Twitch.tv, with episodes made available the following Monday on Geek and Sundry's official website. Matthew Mercer serves as the show's Dungeon Master, running the ongoing campaign that is the basis for the show. The campaign began two years prior to the series as a one-time Pathfinder game at a birthday party for Liam O'Brien, after Liam and Sam Riegel discussed the idea on their podcast AllWorkNoPlay.[2] The group enjoyed this initial game so much that they continued to play privately until they were approached by Felicia Day's Geek and Sundry network. 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 13 March 2015.[3] Each stream also serves 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 fictional kingdom of Tal'Dorei, and follows the actions of an adventuring party known as Vox Machina, formerly the S.H.I.T.s (Super High Intensity Team), well known residents of the city of Emon. 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 featured a summary of the pre-series history, with artwork created by Wendy Sullivan Green and voiceovers provided by the cast.[4] Geek & Sundry is also producing a series of web comics that describes a "Winter's Crest Festival" that occurred pre-series.[5] The web comics are written by cast members Marisha Ray and Taliesin Jaffe, and feature artwork by Wendy Sullivan Green.

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. 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 back-story related episode (Episode 22), as Keyleth visits a related druid tribe.
  3. The Briarwood story arc (episodes 24-38) is dedicated to following Percy's backstory, and brings the adventurers up against Lord and Lady Briarwood who are ruling in Percy's ancestral home. The powerful couple turns out to be a vampire and a wizard, and Vox Machina must stop them from completing a ritual that could endanger the entire kingdom.
  4. The Chroma Conclave story arc begins in episode 39

In addition, there are several stand-alone episodes. In Episode 12, Matthew Mercer shares some tips on how to become a good dungeon master. The episode features a minigame with players who are not part of the regular Critical Role cast, including Geek & Sundry producer Zac Eubank, Nerdist.com senior editor Dan Casey, and comedian Ify Nwadiwe.[6] The three called themselves the Critical Rejects, but were quickly dubbed "Vox Moronica" by fans of the show. The 16 October 2015 Extra Life fundraiser episode raised over $20,000 for the Children's Miracle Network during the broadcast.[7] 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.

Cast and characters

Former cast members

  • Orion Acaba as Tiberius Stormwind the Dragonborn Sorcerer (episodes 1-27 only)

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 Daturai the Tiefling Wizard
  • Chris Hardwick as Gern Blanston the Dragonborn Wizard
  • Zac Eubank as Snugglelord the Tiefling Warlock
  • Dan Casey as Salty Pete the Dwarven Rogue
  • Jason C. Miller as Garthok the Half-Orc Rogue
  • Ify Nwadiwe as Ulfgar Fireforge the Dwarven Fighter

Reception

Critical Role is a mixture of a traditional weekly show and a modern gaming Twitch stream. Each episode runs from 3 to 5 hours, is streamed live, and is made available on Geek & Sundry's Twitch channel immediately afterward to their more than 16,000 subscribers. As of January 2016, the show has more than a million minutes watched for each episode, for a total of over 37 million minutes watched.[8] View numbers for archived episodes on YouTube are in the 100,000s.[9] Viewer responses to the show have been overwhelmingly positive, with many fans (who call themselves "Critters") creating content such as fanart, fan fiction, character-inspired music, and fan-created merchandise, as well as a statistics tracker[10] and a TV Tropes page[11] for the show. Fans also send in many gifts for the cast and crew, resulting in monthly "Critmas" episodes during which the gifts are opened and distributed.

The show has caught the attention of the publishers of Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast, who discussed it at length on their official D&D podcast, along with cast members Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, and former member Orion Acaba.[12] The D&D website lists Critical Role as an example of how to stream D&D games online,[13] and D&D game designer Chris Perkins has visited the set during the streaming of Episode 36. In an interview with the online gaming magazine Polygon, lead D&D designer Mike Mearls comments (specifically in reference to Critical Role) about how cool it is to open up Twitch and see D&D streaming.[14] The cast of Critical Role are active participants on sci-fi/comics convention circuits, appearing for panels and signings at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con[15] as well as the 2015 New York Comic Con,[16] where "critical rolls" were available from one of the food vendors.[17]

In a January 2016 article, Polygon describes Critical Role as a "thoroughly modern" show with a business model that is still developing,[8] and Echo Base suggests it may be the best intro to D&D ever.[18] Players regularly discuss their involvement in the show in media interviews. In August 2015, actress Laura Bailey told Tech Times how much she'd like to see a video game based on the Critical Role web series.[19] Bailey later describes the Critical Role series as "ridiculously fun" in an October 2015 interview with gaming website Attack of the Fanboy.[20] The January 2016 Polygon article features additional quotes from Bailey, as well as Mercer and O'Brien.[8] In late summer of 2015, well-known voice actor and Nerdist.com contributor Steven Blum visited the set of Critical Role for Episode 28 of his "Blum Room" podcast.[21]

Charity involvement

During the show, viewers are invited to donate money to 826LA, which is later provided in a lump sum to the charity.[22] 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 and 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,[23] and the event as a whole raised over $76,000.[7] 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.[24] 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.[25]

In October 2015, Vin Diesel joined members of Critical Role as well Nerdist.com hosts, Dan Casey and Jessica Chobot, for a D&D session coinciding with the release of the film The Last Witchhunter.[26] The session was broadcast on the Nerdist and Geek & Sundry websites, and was also picked up by news outlets such as Entertainment Weekly.[27] Vin Diesel later discussed his experience with The Independent, describing it as "so much fun!"[28]

References

  1. ^ "Critical Role (2015– )". IMDB. Amazon. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  2. ^ "allworknoplay". Podbean. allworknoplay. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  3. ^ "Critical Role: Episode 1 – Arrival at Kraghammer". Geek & Sundry. Geek & Sundry. 13 March 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  4. ^ "Once Upon an Epic Adventure – The Story of Vox Machina". Geek & Sundry. Geek & Sundry. 6 January 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  5. ^ "Critical Role Comic". Geek & Sundry. Geek & Sundry. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  6. ^ "Critical Role: Episode 12 – Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Tips". Geek & Sundry. Geek & Sundry. 29 May 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  7. ^ a b Kraft, Courtney (16 October 2015). "Critical Trolls Relenquish Their Dignity for Extra Life". Geek & Sundry. Geek & Sundry. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Kuchera, Ben (11 January 2016). "How the Voices Behind Your Favorite Games and Shows Are Re-Inventing Live D&D". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  9. ^ "Geek & Sundry - Critical Role". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  10. ^ "Crit Role Stats". Crit Role Stats. Tumblr. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  11. ^ "Web Video: Critical Role". TV Tropes. TV Tropes. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  12. ^ D&D Podcast (22 October 2015). "Critical Role on Livestreaming D&D". Dungeons & Dragons. Wzards of the Coast, LLC. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  13. ^ Bilsland, Greg (10 August 2015). "Streaming D&D on Twitch - Behind the Scenes". Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast LLC. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  14. ^ Hall, Charlie (20 August 2015). "Dungeons & Dragons is booming online, but not in the way you think". Polygon. Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  15. ^ Dixon, Kerry (25 June 2015). "Geek & Sundry Teams Up with The Nerdist, Amy Poehler's Smart Girls for Petco Offsite". San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  16. ^ Heine, Rachel (6 October 2015). "Join Nerdist and Geek & Sundry at New York Comic Con 2015! | Nerdist". Nerdist. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  17. ^ Battersby, Charles (9 October 2015). "Fantasy Food Truck dispenses Nuka-Cola and Cookie Cats at New York Comic Con". Geek.com. Ziff Davis, LLC. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  18. ^ ModCon02 (20 September 2015). "Critical Role: The Best Intro To D&D Ever?". Echo Base. Echo Base, LLC. Retrieved 12 January 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ Burks, Robin (20 August 2015). "TAG Interview, Laura Bailey, Voice Acting Interview: Laura Bailey Discusses Video Game Voice Acting And Playing Titansgrave With Wil Wheaton". Tech Times. techtimes.com. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  20. ^ Hanson, Kyle (2 October 2015). "Tales from the Borderlands Interview – Fiona Voice Actress Laura Bailey Discusses the Finale and More". Attack of the Fanboy. Modern Media Group, LLC. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  21. ^ Blum, Steven (1 October 2015). "Steve Blum - Blum Room". YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  22. ^ "An Act of #Hoomanism: Critical Role Gives Back to 826LA". Geek & Sundry. Geek & Sundry. 25 September 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  23. ^ "Critical Troll Chatroom Requests". Crit Role Stats. Tumblr. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  24. ^ "Critical Role: Episode 33 – Reunions". Geek & Sundry. Geek & Sundry. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  25. ^ "A Critter's Guide to Critmas". Geek & Sundry. Geek & Sundry. 11 December 2015. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  26. ^ Heine, Rachel (19 October 2015). "Watch Vin Diesel Play Dungeons & Dragons as The Last Witch Hunter | Nerdist". Nerdist.com. Nerdist.
  27. ^ Robinson, Will (19 October 2015). "Here's a video of Vin Diesel playing Dungeons & Dragons". Entertainment Weekly. Entertainment Weekly Inc. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  28. ^ Shephard, Jack (9 October 2015). "Vin Diesel nerding out over Dungeons and Dragons is an amazing slice of internet". Independent. Independent Digital News and Media Ltd. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
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