Last night I ran my very own first session of Dungeons & Dragons (D&D for short) as Dungeon Master (DM for short, there might be a lot of abbreviations in here). It was really fun to see some of my closest friends interact and have fun in a fantasy world and story that I created for them. While I had played D&D years before, I never got so deep into it as of late if it weren’t after watching The Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon Prime earlier this year.
The animated series is an adaptation of the first campaign of the D&D web series Critical Role. It stars Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, and Matthew Mercer, all of them reprising their respective roles from the first campaign.
Before I move on to review the series itself and also the personal effect it had on me I want to clear up a few things:
What’s Critical Role?
Critical Role is a web series in which a group of professional and nerdy voice actors play Dungeons & Dragons and stream their gameplay sessions. They started streaming their sessions around 2015 and have done to this very day. This series is an adaptation of their first campaign.
Do you have to watch the first, or all, episodes of the streaming show in order to enjoy the series?
Not really. If you are already a fan then you’re good, but if you are just starting then look at it as if you are just watching a Harry Potter movie without having read the books first, it’s ok. I recommend you watch the animated series and if you end up liking it then go watch the episodes on their YouTube or Twitch channel, but also be cautious and try not to move past the events of the series so you don’t end up spoiling yourself.
Do you need to know anything about Dungeons & Dragons?
Also no. I watched the series knowing very little of the game, on my first rewatch I had picked up on some of the rules and dynamics of how the gameplays work. So some moments in the series might seem odd for some viewers but for fans will make complete sense and serve as entertainment.
Having cleared that up, we can move on with the review of the series.
The first two episodes of the series do an excellent job at introducing the world, tone, and characters that we will be following along the story. By putting the band of mischievous heroes in a pretty straightforward mission that also holds significant weight for what it’s to come, it helps new viewers and longstanding hardcore fans come together on a story that is very pleasing and entertaining.
After that introduction, the story moves on to adapt what it’s known as the “Briarwood Arc”. Choosing to adapt this story is a pretty clever group from the production team because it helps the viewers by familiarizing them with recurring villains that have a lasting effect throughout the story of this and future campaigns as well as some very basic fantasy concepts like vampires and zombies.
The story also manages to find the right balance for each member of the team, giving them moments where they can showcase what makes them unique and likable. It’s something that is not very easy to achieve when you have seven members of a team, and while the story of the Briarwoods puts the character of Percy front and center in this story arc, at the end of the day this is a story of a group of heroes that become a family.
While I don’t have anything against live-action fantasy adventure stories, I would always choose the animation option over the real one because, as I have said times before, animation has the ability to facilitate boundaries that you cannot do in live-action. I have to applaud the work done by Titmouse, Inc. for being able to deliver a very simple yet detailed enough animation that also maintains the adult humor and tone that Critical Role is known for.
Speaking of tone, that was one of the things that caught my eye when I saw the trailer and kept me wanting to see the rest of the series. I really liked the adult humor that the series handles, which is not offensive at all. But the scenes of violence represent very well the severity in which the characters are when fighting. It is not the same to see a character you like to fall in battle from a stab in the gut to be cut in half and see said half fall to the ground.
As I said before, while the story might focus more on Percy each character has a moment to shine and that’s thanks to its brilliant and talented cast. I did find that some of its main characters fall into the most common archetypes of known characters, but hey there’s a reason that it has worked for all of these years.
Matthew Mercer, all of them reprising their respective roles from the first campaign.
Characters like Taliesin Jaffe’s Percy are not uncommon, the need to get revenge on those that brought ruin to one’s family is something that the audience can sympathize with, but what I like about Percy’s story is how his need for revenge manifests. The saying “revenge never brings you peace” has never been seen as quite so true in Percy’s story.
Laura Bailey and Liam O’Brien play the half-elven twins Vex and Vax; both of them could be considered the leaders of the group as they are smart enough to take down enemies and see what the next logical step to achieve the mission, but what’s most important is the sibling dynamic that they put on screen. Laura and Liam may not be brothers by blood in real life, but by the laws of D&D they are brothers and their love is as authentic as in real life.
The rest of the cast is there in order to deliver either moment that is funny, cool in action, and even heartfelt. I really enjoyed the friendship between Travis Willingham’s big brute Grog beside Ashley Johnson’s small yet powerful Pike. Marisha Ray’s Keyleth might be the most likable of this bunch of misfits, and I really think that her character has the most bright character development in the series (pun very much intended). Sam Riegel’s Scanlan…is one of the top reasons I stayed to watch this show and a huge inspiration for the character I created for the D&D campaign I’m currently playing, his presence is essential to Vox Machina and the story. I would say that while I did like all of the members of Vox Machina, these four are among my favorites so far.
Matthew Mercer might not “technically” be part of the team of Vox Machina, but he’s responsible for creating the world and all the supporting characters that other talented actors got to portray. He’s as essential as the rest of the group and I am just amazed by all the work he has put into this world filled with magic, darkness, and adventures to come.
So what do we have at the end of this? Well, in my personal and professional opinion, I think this is probably one of the best-animated series and fantasy stories that have come out in recent years. I love this series because I’m truly amazed by the work done by the main team behind these characters and this story deeply cared about the work that they were doing, even when it was just a role-playing game that they played at home before streaming.
Most actors are hired to portray characters that are written by someone else that has already determined most of their actions and how their story will end; they rarely get the chance to write the characters they want to portray and in the stories, they want to see.
I think the key to the success of web series and animated series is caring enough about something. That’s where the magic of Dungeons & Dragons comes in and changes things.
The DM (Matt’s role in the game) job is to set the world, the rules, and maybe one or two inciting incidents, but the story doesn’t start moving until the players and their respective characters start doing something; and this is a story that has been moved along by a group of actors that were given free choice to portray the characters they have always wanted to portray and tell the stories they always wanted to tell.
To find a story that is driven by rich characters and a well-constructed plot is very magical and unique. In a world where pretty much everything is an adaptation, reboot, or remake, original storytelling seems to be rare. The work done by the team of Critical Role is proof that it can be done and it can work if you truly believe that it’s good and put your heart into it.
I finished watching the show and dive deep into knowing more about its cast and whatever else it had to offer, so I immediately went to subscribe to its YouTube channel. I know what’s to come, but I won’t spoil it!. I have really enjoyed absorbing all of the knowledge that D&D has to offer. They have motivated and helped me create my own fantasy story (a genre I’ve loved since I can remember) and share it with others. I’m glad that Amazon has greenlighted a second season and hopefully more seasons to come. I hope that The Mighty Nein and The Bell Hells get their chance as well. And I wait for Thursday night to see what’s to come.
