Posted on 04/30/2018 3:09:26 PM PDT by Teflonic
Dungeons and Dragons has been a popular game among certain groups since it’s release in 1974. But throughout the 1980’s it was painted as satanic, and even though that perception has gone away for the most part in the early 2000’s, it was still something that you didn’t want to admit to playing. That all changed March 12, 2015; Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer, a voice actor who has been in many anime and video games including his role of McCree in Overwatch, introduced a show that would bring Dungeons and Dragons into popularity that has not been seen before.
“Welcome to the first episode of Critical Role, and what this basically is, is a continuation of our weekly D&D game. Me and a bunch of other likely nerdy and enjoyable voice actors gathering around, rolling some dice, killing some creatures, having some adventure. Now we have the pleasure of bringing it on the stream for you to watch, enjoy, and occasionally interact with.”
The show featured some well-known voice actors that you have most likely heard in some of your favorite shows and video games. Starring Ashley Johnson “Recess,” “Ben 10,” “Blindspot,” etc. as gnome cleric Pike Trickfoot. Laura Bailey “Dragon Ball Z,” “Soul Eater,” etc. as half-elf ranger/ rouge Vex’ahlia. Liam O’Brien “Shadow of Mordor,” “Injustice 2,” etc. as half-elf rogue/paladin/druid Vax’ildan, Vex’s twin brother. Marisha Ray “Star Wars: Battlefront,” “Far Cry 5,” etc. as half-elf druid Keyleth. Sam Riegel “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003,” “Sofia the First,” etc. as gnome bard Scanlan Shorthalt (1-85, 99-115) and human artificer Taryon “Tary” Darrington (85-102). Taliesin Jaffe “Mr. Mom,” “Injustice 2,” etc. as human gunslinger Percival “Percy” Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III. Travis Willingham “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Far Cry 4,” etc as goliath barbarian/fighter Grog Strongjaw; and finally, Orion Acaba “Gormiti,” “Call of DutyBlack Ops III,” etc as dragonborn sorcerer Tiberius Stormwind (1-27).
Critical Role also had a number of special guest stars including Will Friedle, Chris Hardwick, Jon Heder, Joe Manganiello and many others. Campaign 1 of Critical Role features the aforementioned characters that were broken up into five story arcs that lasted from 2015-2017. I’m going to be honest, the first story arc which includes episodes 1-23 which are important to the story has poor sound quality and it also takes you a little bit to identify with the characters which is natural, once you fall in love with the characters you will never want to stop watching.
The second arc is where the show really starts getting good. This arc includes episodes 24-38 and you start seeing relationships develop and you learn more about the characters. The sound quality is better, and this is where you start to fall in love with the characters. It has drama and comedy similar to the first 23 episodes, but the stakes are a lot bigger in this arc.
It is Percy’s main story arc as you see him go through different changes as he seeks revenge and the team leads a rebellion against vampires and other undead foes to restore light to his homeland. The third arc is where things get interesting. It is the longest arc, spanning from episodes 39-84. It pretty much starts out with devastation, as the heroes have to escape an attack from four ancient dragons!
This arc also confirms relationships and you learn a lot about the characters backstories. It is also in this arc that events relevant to the ending start to be seeded with it being a longer arc like a regular Dungeons and Dragons game, but the heroes go to different places to get items to help them on their quest to defeat the Chroma Conclave. If you are not into this series by the end of this arc, then this show isn’t meant for you. The fourth arc has episodes 85-99. This arc again like all the others has drama and comedy. This arc is pretty much the team finishing up business that they had prior to the Conclave attack and the characters continuing to evolve.
The final arc, which has episodes 100-115, has everything starting to come together. I would say this arc has a couple of the most emotional episodes in the campaign. One of the things that made it more emotional is that you know that the characters you have watched for almost three years. It is literally a race against the clock as the team goes to prepare and defeat the “Whispered One” bringing things that happened in arc two to light.
It is very difficult to review a series that I love without giving too much away and the fact that it has 115 episodes that are three to five hours long each makes it impossible. With that being said the popularity of the show brought back Dungeons and Dragons, it is now cool to play it now. The cast of Critical Role goes to many different conventions and the popularity has resulted in a campaign guide and a comic book series. You may not have time to watch or listen to all these episodes and it’s understandable.
The show continued on Jan. 11, 2018, with the same cast but new characters. So if you want a more realistic way of catching up on the first 12 episodes of this campaign go to YouTube. There are also recaps of the first episodes if you just want to dive right in. Episode 13 will begin right where episode 12 ended and frankly I’m excited.
You can watch Critical Role Thursdays on the Geek and Sundry Twitch channel or wait for the episode to be uploaded to YouTube every Monday. With drama and comedy, you don’t want to miss looking into this. “Is it Thursday yet?”
The cartoon was ok.
D&D was never cool.
The cartoon was great!!!
I vaguely remember it.
The DVDs are around somewhere.
My sister referred to it as “Magic: The Crack Addiction”. She thought some of the people who played it were, shall we say, a bit ‘obsessive’.
That was it, I couldn’t remember the name of it, and I didn’t remember that it was Tom Hanks in that. I guess I was about 9 at the time.
Still gaming. Sporadic nowadays, but will still do some “roll” playing.
When I was assigned with the AF in Germany, I’d get together with some friends from time to time and we’d play D&D well into the night. Great times!
NERDS!!!!!!
If you like D&D, you might like this flick.
A bit older of an audience though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v26rUX16cZM
Original D&D was essentially a homemade Lord of the Rings boardgame without the board.
D&D makes you think - you have to use your imagination and really get into it. A lot of libtards have had their minds subjected to Satan and the machine, therefore depriving them of imagination and rational thought, making it impossible to enjoy D&D. The only imagination they show is for deviant sexual fantasy - wonder if there are RPG’s for that?
They are - take a gander at the bay prices some day when you have time. Early 70s modules can go for $100 easy. Later 80s stuff usually runs in the 20s or better. I’ve managed to pick up some bargains at yard and thrift sales over the past 10 or so years - but they are rare to come by in the wild unless on a web sell site.
Not so much the books. mostly the modules.
I marathoned through all of the first campaign last summer and caught up in early fall. Its very good. Matt Mercer is a talented storyteller and does an amazing job of bringing it all together. The cast is made up mostly of people in the voice acting industry, including an Emmy award winner and a two time BAFTA winner. They’re all pretty talented.
The second campaign has been good so far. I’m particularly happy to see Travis playing a character that isn’t constrained by low intelligence, something that kept him from even mentioning ideas in the previous campaign. His wife Laura is also amazing, and I’m fairly certain might be a cartoon character in real life.
If you haven’t done so, I’d watch the first campaign over time. The story arcs are pretty good, especially towards the end as Matt brings everything together and they face off against Vecna.
>>Well, I meant in terms of morality. They obviously are meant to maximize consumption and revenue by constantly adding expansion packs.
I meant in terms of morality too. D&D and most RPGs are games of cooperation, usually in fights against evil. Even PCs of evil alignments aren’t the same kind of evil as the antagonist in a D&D campaign. In CCG, you are just combatants. Good and evil are gone, except as equals sitting across the table from each other. For the generation who grew up playing cowboys and Indians, cops and robbers, etc, these games were ones where everyone got to play the good guys. Even the DM, who cooperates by playing all the bad guys, gets to share in the successes of the players as they cooperate to create a story.
CCG players have a term called a “table flip card” which is a game breaker card that usually enrages the other player. I’ve never seen a table flip in an RPG in over 35 years of gaming.
There was Mazes and Monsters, but I don’t know if it was made for TV or not. But the running joke in our house is that my mother thought it was a documentary; she was totally and completely panicked by D&D. Which is a pity, because it would’ve made adolescence much easier on me.
I fell in love with fantasy in fifth grade when someone handed me a copy of the Hobbit. I discovered D&D in the ninth grade just before the first edition books came out. I played D&D with a group of friends in their parents basement most Friday evenings all through high school. We first had to convince my mother that it wasn’t evil.
I tried several times to get my sons to play it but it never stuck. We played Magic the Gathering instead and had a lot of fun. It is a step above Pokemon. The kids have moved so I have boxes of cards in storage.
Fast forward a few years, my third son’s best friend’s stepfather played old school D&D. We became friends and had a lot of fun for a couple years. I took a group of adults and teenagers through a dungeon adventure I had written in my late teens. My church leaders told me to stop playing so my wife “educated” them on good versus evil intentions. I moved away and lost contact with the group.
I discovered D&D Online and had fun with that for several years. I also joined a group that played all sorts of RPGs and other games - Wild Wild West, Earthdawn, Game of Thrones, Touch of Evil (board game). It was fun but nothing stuck very long.
D&D is my original RPG and still my favorite.
I moved again and haven’t restarted RPGs. I still have all my books, modules and miniatures.
I’m slowly working my way through the first campaign, 380 hours is a lot to get through! I don’t like the rude bald guy in the first either but I read that he is booted around the 27th episode.
Laura is my absolute favorite, she cracks me up constantly in the second campaign. She also has a stunning smile, Travis is a fortunate man to be married to her! They are all pretty great except for Taliesin as the odd man out, I think he should be replaced as he doesn’t contribute much.
Maybe we’ll all play epic campaigns together in the nursing home someday heh. In the meantime this show scratches that itch pretty well.
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