Critical Role

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About

Critical Role is a web series in which professional voice actors play Dungeons and Dragons. The show has been critically well-received and has generated a significant following on social media, particularly Tumblr. The show streams on Critical Role and Geek and Sundry Twitch channels.

History

Critical Role started when actress Felicia Day heard about the private game held between several voice actors including Liam O'Brien, Matthew Mercer, Ashley Johnson, and others, and approached the group to stream the series.^[1]^[2] The show began streaming on March 12th, 2015.

Episodes run between 3 and 6 hours. The first season of the show ran for 115 episodes. The second season of the show has run for 41 episodes as of November 30th, 2018.

Online Presence

The show has over been watched for over 37 million minutes and has been viewed on YouTube over 68 million views overall. The group has talked with Wizards of the Coast, the official Dungeons and Dragons publisher, in the official DND podcast.^[3] The show was called thoroughly modern by Polygon in January of 2016.^[4]

The show is extremely well-received by fans, creating fan art and fan animations of the show (examples shown below). The show was one of the top 10 fandoms on Tumblr in 2018.^[5]

Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina

On March 4th, 2019, the makers of Critical Role launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina Animated Special, which reunite the cast members. Within three days, the campaign received more than $5.8 million in donations from 42,000 backers.^[6]