The animated series Critical Role, is set to release on January 28th of this year, and it marks a critically important moment for the D&D community. The series will be centered around the characters from the first Critical Role campaign, all voiced by the very voice actors who played them. The show is set in the magical world of Exandria on the continent of Tal'Dorei, promising to introduce new audiences and old fans alike to the world of Critical Role like never before.
Critical Role started as a bunch of self-proclaimed "nerdy" voice actors sitting around and playing Dungeons & Dragons. Their first campaign started roughly two years before the filmed TV show of their campaign Critical Role started, led by Dungeon Master, Matthew Mercer. Since then, Critical Role has expanded to three main campaigns, several mini-campaigns, official sourcebooks for D&D 5th edition, comic books detailing events outside of the games, plenty of merchandise, and now the Legend of Vox Machina spinoff animated series.
With the release of The Legend Of Vox Machina less than a month away, now is a critically important time in the D&D community. Because the characters featured in the show are all from the first campaign, they have been with the cast and the Critters (fans of Critical Role) the longest. The show is actually starting out with a story arc that occurred before the cast started Critical Role, allowing longtime and newer fans to see things they haven't before for these beloved characters. Legend of Vox Machina following the Briarwood arc in the first season means it's also set to depict a cast and audience favorite. This is important because the events that occurred in this story arc have a resounding effect that can still be felt in subsequent Critical Role campaigns. The series is a great medium to show people how Critical Role got started with these characters around a regular table with a group of friends.
The enthusiasm for The Legend of Vox Machina was clear from the start. It was announced that the Critical Role creative team was launching a Kickstarter on March 4th, 2019, to fund a 22-minute animated special. They set their goal at US$750,000 and campaign to run for 45 days. Astonishingly, within the first hour after launch, the Kickstarter had reached over $1 million. By the end of the first day, the project had over $4.3 million, and four 22-minute episodes were funded. Additional goals were soon added to create the project into a full animated series. With a grand total of $11,385,449, the Critical Role cartoon Kickstarter became the most funded campaign among TV and film projects. It was also one of the most quickly funded projects in Kickstarter history, backed by 88,887 fans of Critical Role, averaging out to roughly $128 per backer. It's unprecedented that an animated show about D&D characters broke Kickstarter records.
The cast of Critical Role has revitalized interest in D&D and other tabletop RPGs and influenced many to "put their fate in their hands, take a chance and roll the dice," in their own D&D campaigns. The Legend Of Vox Machina will do the same on an even grander scale by vividly showing the world that Matt Mercer and the cast have painted through words and roleplay since 2015. Additionally, the series presents the opportunity for future Critical Role campaigns, or other D&D groups campaigns, to be brought to life with studio animation.
The importance of The Legend Of Vox Machina can already be felt in the Dungeons & Dragons community. From its humble origins that started at a regular table amongst a group of nerdy friends, Critical Role radically changed how the D&D community was viewed once they started streaming their game. The Legend Of Vox Machina has and will cause an even greater change to the D&D community than the campaign it came from, opening the doors for more people to be asked “how do you want to do this” from a table of their own.