Getting Started With Critical Role
I’ve had a lot of people approaching me asking about getting in to Critical Role. So in a surprising display of efficiency, I thought I’d make a post I could reference people to instead of giving the same answers to everyone individually!
Critical Role is a livestream where a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors get together, roll dice, and play Dungeons and Dragons! It has a very compelling story, and lots of excellent drama that is wonderfully balanced with abundant and creative humor. There’s a video that can be found by clicking HERE that gives the general feel of the stream without major plot spoilers.
When/Where does the stream air?
The stream is aired live every Thursday on their Twitch Channel at 7:00PM PST. The episodes are generally 3-4 hours long with a 20-30 minute break about halfway through.
Where else can I watch it?
I know I usually can’t stay up to watch the stream since I’m in a different timezone. There’s a rebroadcast directly after the livecast ends on their Twitch Channel. If you subscribe, you can watch the episode any time after it airs on their Twitch Channel. If not, the new episodes are posted the following Monday on Geek and Sundry! They are posted two weeks later on their YouTube Channel.
Yes you can! There are a couple video-to-mp3 websites you can use to download CR episodes and listen to them like podcasts! HERE and HERE are some of those sites. From there you can put the files in to iTunes, or on to your phone to listen!
Should I start from Episode 1?
I get this question most of all. I know the episodes are long, I know there’s a LOT of them, and I know the prospect of having to watch all of them to catch up is daunting. But honestly, I genuinely think that watching from Episode 1 is the best way to go. You get the steady build of each character and of their relationships with each other, you get to see the origins of running jokes (i.e. The Cube, ‘I need a small boy’, ‘I walk away’ , etc.) and it’s just… it’s so worth watching every episode.
If it helps, actually watching the episodes is not necessary. During long drives or mindless busywork, you can treat it as a podcast and just listen. I have about 3 hours of driving that I do each day traveling between home work and school. Instead of listening to music, I listened to Critical Role!
That being said, they frequently do a brief synopsis before starting each episode! It’s pretty accessable, so you can just jump in wherever you’d like to jump in! There are story arcs that make good starting points (separated in to seasons).
If that’s not something you want to do, each of the episodes has a summary on the Critical Role Wiki. You can head on over there and do some reading instead of some watching! Obviously the Wiki is NOT spoiler free.
So who exactly is part of Critical Role?
Matthew Mercer DM’s for the group.
Marisha Ray plays Keyleth, the half-elf druid.
Taliesin Jaffe plays Percival, the human gunslinger.
Liam O’Brien plays Vax’ildan, the half-elf rogue.
Laura Bailey plays Vex’ahlia, the half-elf ranger.
Travis Willingham plays Grog, the goliath barbarian.
Sam Riegel plays Scanlan, the gnome bard.
Ashley Johnson plays Pike, the gnome cleric.
Orion Acaba plays Tiberius, the dragonborn sorcerer.
There are also various guest stars that join the stream for an episode or two on occasion!
Is there a running stat page for Critical Role?
@critrolestats keeps a running stat page of a ton of different things from the show! It’s a fan-run site and is a WONDERFUL resource for finding different things that happen in the stream. Also, since they’re fan run, they’re always looking for volunteer help! Maybe hop on over and lend a hand if you’ve got the time?
Are there any general Critical Role blogs I can follow?
Tons! @criticalrolesource @criticalrolequotesandstuff @criticalroletranscriptions and @criticalrolequotes are just a few of the CR blogs out there. All you have to do is search the Critical Role tag on tumblr and you’ll find a ton of blogs to satiate all of your CritRole needs!
That’s alright! You can ask them! I don’t mind answering some more questions, and in my experience the Critter community has been nothing but wonderful! There are plenty of people out there who will also be happy to help! Good luck future Critters! Welcome to the family!
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