A Beginner's Guide To Critical Role: Dungeons & Dragons Takes Over Supanova

A cast of seven voice actors silently wipe their tears away so as to not disturb the eighth of their crew, who deliver a final monologue before sacrificing a character they have embodied for three years and over 380 hours of an epic Dungeons & Dragons Campaign.

You pause the stream to get yourself a pack of tissues, wondering in slight disbelief about how you could possibly feel so heartbroken and emotional over a story you can’t even see. This is the average Critical Role experience: a torrent of emotion, wonder, and laughter as you follow some of the most talented fantasy improvisers traverse a world populated entirely by imagination.

With humble beginnings in basements and game stores, the fantasy roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons has exploded in popularity, and it’s never been more accessible to take part in the community, with your own inventions or by watching others. Maybe you have wanted to run your own game or join one with your friends, but haven’t been sure where to start.

After all, the community is almost as expansive as the fantasy realms themselves. Anyone who has looked into what the craze is all about has probably come across Critical Role, a group of nerds who are very good at DnD. For the first time, the eight DnD legends are coming to Supanova, and if you aren’t already nauseous with excitement, by the end of this article, you might understand why some are.

Headed by Dungeon Master Matt Mercer, Critical Role is a multi-platform Dungeons & Dragons hub, where the crew sit down weekly to play a DnD campaign that is so good that half a million people tune in each week. The crew are made up of voice actors you have definitely heard of, whether or not you knew it was them.

Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffe, Travis Willingham, Sam Riegel and Liam O'Brien are each incredibly influential voice actors in their own right, featuring in video games, anime, TV shows, movies, and everything in between. The platform also features a revolving cast of the world’s best and nerdiest improv geniuses for shorter sessions and campaigns, but it’s their feature campaign that has captured the hearts of millions worldwide.

A Critical Role campaign is much like reading an excellent book series; you feel totally entranced by the world, forgetting entirely that the vivid images of the characters and locations are created by your imagination in collaboration with incredible storytellers. You’re watching characters in real time solve and discover secrets of a world with labyrinthian lore and endless possibilities. It feels almost antithetical to what the entertainment industry boasts.

In a media landscape that tells us bigger is more—more CGI, more A-list actors, more AI—it’s telling that a platform built on the pillars of storytelling and imagination has captured such dedicated and excited fans in droves.

While the Critical Role platform's production, sets, design, and visual elements are of a High standard of quality, the format's crux is free, pure imagination. Supanova will showcase the campaign's thrills at its forthcoming event at Olympic Park on 21-22 June.

The world explored in the Critical Role campaigns comes from the brainchild of Dungeon Master Matt Mercer, who has an uncanny way of embodying a universe that he has been creating and collaborating inside for a decade. His approach reminds me of Sherlock Holmes’ Mind Palace, an intangible world with endless treasure troves of information. The only difference is that Matt Mercer has the patience and generosity to be our personal tour guide throughout it.

In addition to Mercer, the cast is stacked with talent Laura Bailey and Ashley Johnson share credits in The Last Of Us Part II, while Taliesin Jaffe portrays Percival de Rolo III in Vox Machina, Sam Riegel (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ace Attorney) is an Emmy Award winner, and Marisha Ray is the voice behind the Critical Role characters Keyleth, Beau, and Laudna. Travis Willingham, CEO of Critical Role, who describes himself as a “Former Barbarian, Hexadin and current troll”, will also head to Supanova, alongside Critical Role star Liam O’Brien.

Not everyone can pull off what the Critical Role crew are capable of. It’s their unique talent for improvisation and creativity that makes their campaigns so special and memorable. The players have been journeying together for over a decade, and their group dynamic is one of generosity and humility. There is no one star of the show; each character gets their moment, but the spotlight is always shared between them. The improvisational pillar of ‘yes, and ’ing each other's decisions is a takeaway for any DnD players, or any collaborator in general. To serve the story, you have to uplift your co-stars.

DnD podcasts and shows have become extremely popular, and every group has their own unique flavour of storytelling. The Critical Role campaigns weave together mystery, intrigue, humour, and devastation like a vast tapestry of many colours, and are particularly rewarding for those of us who love lore-heavy stories and descriptive scene setting.

While the CR style is very by-the-book and builds upon an extensive world built by Matt Mercer, you don’t need to know the minutiae of DnD to enjoy what the cast of Critical Role achieve. Much of the rule following and spell casting is explained with context, and the story is not lost within the dice rolling and number counting.

So, where to start? Supanova will help.

It can be daunting to dive into a series with hundreds of hours to catch up on. While many highlight reels have been edited to facilitate an easier viewing or listening experience for new fans, it does cut out some of the charm and banter between characters. There is no rush to get involved in the world that surrounds a campaign, and listening years on from the story's conclusion is still a rewarding and amazing experience. I will say that tuning in to the live stream of a currently running session does feel extremely cool - something I’ve only pulled off a handful of times.

Critical Role has three long-running campaigns, the first was Vox Machina, which ran for two years, and was reimaged as an animated TV series on Amazon Prime. Campaign Two was The Mighty Nein, and became a respite for many people isolated in their homes during the COVID lockdowns. Their recently concluded campaign was Bells Hells, their longest-running story to date. Any of these epics are of Tolkienian scale, and are worth the investment, but for those of us who might not have 200+ hours to commit to a podcast, they have gripping, shorter sessions that are worth watching.

The campaign I recommend to everyone who is thinking of listening to some Critical Role is their 2022 four-episode series Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, which may be the single best piece of media I have ever consumed. This series has cast favourites Marisha Ray, Travis Willingham and Sam Riegel, but is DM’d by Brennen Lee Mulligan.

Critical Role holds a very special place for DnD podcast listeners and players alike, epitomising a high standard of player proficiency, without compromising what makes DnD so enjoyable to be a part of. They are excellent storytellers, and while their catalogue of projects can feel as epic as their campaigns, the investment is more than worth it.

The cast of Critical Role will appear at the Supanova Comic Con & Gaming expo in Sydney on 21-22 June. You can find out more about the Sydney event here.

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