My family finished watching the Amazon Prime series "The Legend of Vox Machina" from Critical Role and honestly it was a lot of fun.
It was funny, exciting, and really just a lot of great gamer humor without feeling like gamer humor.
A big problem I have with most gamer-related fiction is you can often, as I say, "hear the dice rolling in the background." Not so with this. Yes there are the expected name drops, the occasional mention of a power (Grog wanting to "rage") or a spell (Keyleth saying she can only do that one once a day) but that all took a backseat to what makes any bit of fiction good; good story and characters you can care about.
I have not listened to any of the Critical Role episodes, but my oldest LOVES them. So we backed the Kickstarter and honestly, we have been very pleased. He let me know later how the animated series differs from the actual play episodes. So now I do want to go back to those older Campaign One episodes and listen to them all.
Also not since the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon has D&D seen this much success in a televised medium. Amazon already renewed it for a second season before season one even premiered.
It has met with critical success, including a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 94% audience score.
Whether you are a fan or not one thing is certain, Critical Role is one of D&D greatest achievements in terms of getting more people interested in our little game. Born out of an odd combination of Pathfinder and D&D 5 the World of Tal'dorei has also seen quite a bit of success in the D&D 5 printed world with three (soon to be four) books.
In addition to the series, the actual play episodes, and the gaming material there are comic books, action figures, clothes, and gear. There is even a 1/6th scale statue of the characters Vex and Vax from Vox Machina coming out. You know for a fact if there were statues of Keyleth and Jester coming out they would never be able to keep them in stock. Yes even at the nearly $200 price tag.
When was the last time one of your campaigns did all of that? Ok. I do have 1/6th scale versions of two of my own iconic witches. No, I am not going to share how much I spent on them.
So the show was a lot of fun, maybe a touch adult for some, a lot of swearing some nudity, lots of gore. But seriously, does no one remember gaming when they were 14?
I wish them the best of luck and hope for their continued success.
2 comments:
I really enjoyed the season. I've listened to some of the first campaign and a lot of the second (none of the third). The second is my favorite. That being said, Vox Machina rocks. I need to pick up the newest book.
"Whether you are a fan or not one thing is certain, Critical Role is one of D&D greatest achievements in terms of getting more people interested in our little game."
Yep. Love it or hate it (and I'm somewhere toward the latter personally) it's had a huge impact on the number of people playing TTRPGs, and not just D&D (although it's benefited the most). Wonder what Gygax would think of it now? It certainly seems to vindicate his belief in the importance of getting D&D on the screen, big or small, even if it's in a format that he couldn't have imagined back when he was trying to sell Hollywood on the idea.
Almost makes up for that godawful D&D movie back in 2000. :)
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