Stuff D&D People Like No. 2: Critical Role

July 15, 2022

They weren’t the first and they certainly weren’t the last group of D&D players to share their game online. Even before Chris Perkins and the Penny Arcade crew turned live D&D game play into a spectator event in 2013 the 5E D&D game design architect brought actual plays to the internet with the folks from Robot Chicken back in 2010. That actual play video was produced to market 4E D&D (the best edition of the game for at least one person).

Then 2015 rolled around the D&D hasn’t been the same since. Matt Mercer and his group of nerdy ass voice actors began streaming their campaign on Felicia Day’s Geek & Sundry platform and the response was fast and overwhelmingly positive. A community of fans dubbed Critters sprang up around the D&D streaming troupe during their first campaign and continued to grow by leaps and bounds, still going strong as ever today.

Long before the internet was even a thing let alone the ubiquitous presence it’s been the past couple of decades D&D players would fantasize about their campaigns becoming something bigger. In the 1980s players pointed to Dragonlance as the example of a group’s game transforming into a profitable intellectual property. Critical Role demonstrates the possibility of reaching great heights through a more grassroots effort and the good free market. At least that’s the dream for many hopefully players who stream their games hoping to foster audience demand for whatever they supply.

If the tremendous growth and expansion of Critical Role as an entity isn’t enough evidence of their success there’s another piece of anecdotal proof too — they’ve got plenty of haters. Critters with a solid foundation of 5E D&D knowledge recognize the group plays the game closer to the rules as written and the spirit of the rules than your average collection of players but this doesn’t stop detractors from promulgating the notion it’s all scripted or similar nonsense.

If you’re unsure when you meet a fellow 5E D&D player whether they’re a Critter you can try greeting them with the customary, “Bidet!”