50 Fun Facts About Critical Role

Which fantasy world did Matthew Mercer create in 2012 for the home game that became Critical Role?

Exandria outgrew the show that made it famous: in 2020 it became an official Dungeons & Dragons setting with a sourcebook of its own.

Critical Role grew out of a one-off game played as a birthday treat for which cast member?

Liam O'Brien had kept turning down invitations to play because of his new baby, then agreed to a single birthday session that the group enjoyed so much it ran at home for two years.

Which crowdfunding site raised over $11 million in 2019 for an animated Vox Machina series?

Kickstarter backers were asked for $750,000 to fund a single 22-minute special; pledges passed $1 million within an hour and the project grew into a full series.

What kind of animal is Trinket, the loyal companion of Vox Machina's half-elf ranger Vex'ahlia?

A bear, Trinket fights beside Vex'ahlia throughout the first campaign, and in the animated series his growls are performed by Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer.

How are Vex'ahlia and Vax'ildan, Vox Machina's half-elf ranger and rogue, related?

Twins, the pair are fiercely protective of each other, and their years before joining the party are told in the prequel novel Kith & Kin.

What nickname do fans of Critical Role go by, a name first floated during an early episode's Q&A?

Critters was suggested at the end of the tenth episode and caught on with the live chat; the segments in which fans' gifts to the cast are opened are known as Critmas.

On which night of the week has Critical Role traditionally streamed its new episodes since 2015?

Thursday became so tied to the show that the third campaign's opening theme song is named after the night.

Which Dungeons & Dragons villain, known as the Whispered One, does Vox Machina face in its final battle?

Vecna actually succeeds in becoming a god during the campaign, so the party needs special powers lent by other deities before it can face him.

Which Game Master replaced Matthew Mercer behind the screen for Critical Role's fourth campaign?

Brennan Lee Mulligan, the creator of Dimension 20, brought a new world called Aramán with him, while Mercer stayed on at the table as one of the players.

After playing Vex'ahlia in Vox Machina, Laura Bailey played which tiefling cleric in the Mighty Nein?

Jester Lavorre follows the Traveler, an obscure patron who turns out to be no god at all but an archfey the first campaign's party had already met.

Which streaming service premiered the animated series The Legend of Vox Machina in January 2022?

Prime Video ordered 14 extra episodes before the show had even aired, lengthening the fan-funded first season and guaranteeing a second.

Which city, the ancestral home of Percy de Rolo, does Vox Machina fight to free from usurpers?

Whitestone was seized in a coup that killed most of Percy's family, and the returning party finds its sacred Sun Tree dead and hung with effigies of themselves.

Which weapon does Vox Machina's Percy de Rolo create after a dream offers him the means of revenge?

The gun became Percy's signature: he engraved the barrels of his pistol with the names of the five conspirators behind the coup that killed his family.

Which channel co-founded by Felicia Day hosted Critical Role for its first four years?

Geek & Sundry first pitched a version in which the players would switch to a video game to resolve combat; Matthew Mercer refused, and the group kept its dice and tabletop.

Grog Strongjaw, Vox Machina's barbarian of great might and slow wit, belongs to which fantasy race?

Goliath muscle comes with a soft spot: Grog's best friend in the party is the gnome cleric Pike Trickfoot.

Which Vox Machina gnome bard is a raunchy hedonist whose most useful spell is a giant purple hand?

Scanlan Shorthalt later leaves the party for a stretch to spend time with his daughter, and a newcomer adventures in his place until he returns.

Which continent, home to the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty, do the Mighty Nein roam?

Wildemount lies to the east of the first campaign's continent, and its story opens about twenty years after that earlier party's final battle.

Which rule system did Critical Role's home game use before converting to fifth-edition Dungeons & Dragons?

Pathfinder was dropped to streamline play for the cameras: the characters were converted to fifth edition just before the first broadcast in March 2015.

Which Mighty Nein blood hunter, a tiefling from a travelling circus, is killed early on by slavers?

Mollymauk Tealeaf began as a backup plan: Taliesin Jaffe first designed him as a replacement in case his first-campaign character Percy died.

Which fast-food chain sponsored a 2019 Critical Role one-shot that was pulled after a fan backlash?

Wendy's paid for the episode to promote its own tabletop game, Feast of Legends; after the backlash the cast gave their sponsorship profits to a farm workers' charity.

Which lord and lady, a vampire and a necromancer, murdered most of Percy de Rolo's family?

The Briarwoods outlast their own defeat: Lady Delilah's voice still troubles a member of the Bells Hells two campaigns later.

What name do the four ancient dragons who attack Emon in Vox Machina's campaign go by?

The Chroma Conclave kills the Sovereign and carves up the kingdom, sending the party on a hunt for legendary magic items powerful enough to fight back.

Which Vox Machina druid undertakes the Aramenté, a journey to become leader of her people?

Keyleth's quest takes her from tribe to tribe, and among the Fire Ashari she learns that her mother came through on the same journey about ten years earlier.

Which Mighty Nein goblin rogue is really a halfling woman named Veth, living under a curse?

Nott the Brave gets her halfling body back late in the campaign, then has to choose between adventuring and staying with her husband and son.

Which real-world language stands in for Zemnian, the mother tongue of the wizard Caleb Widogast?

German is spoken at the table whenever Caleb uses Zemnian, a choice Matthew Mercer put down to the actor's love of the language.

On which livestreaming platform did Critical Role debut in 2015 and later rank among the top earners?

Twitch paid the company more than $9.6 million in two years, a figure that only came to light when the platform's payout data leaked in 2021.

Which city hosted Critical Role's first live show outside the United States, in a sold-out arena?

London's Wembley arena sold all 12,000 tickets in under six minutes, a leap from the 2,000 to 3,000 seat venues of earlier live shows.

Which Critical Role cast member missed long stretches of play while filming NBC's Blindspot?

Ashley Johnson was away so often that the animated series later wrote her character Pike into scenes she had missed in the original game.

Which automaton cleric of the Bells Hells sacrifices themself on the red moon so the party can escape?

Fresh Cut Grass, FCG for short, proved far older than the tinkerer who rebuilt them: the initials first stood for Faithful Care-Giver.

What is the name of the red moon said to imprison an ancient evil in Critical Role's third campaign?

Ruidus gives its name to the Ruidusborn, people born during the moon's sudden flares, and two of the Bells Hells are among them.

Which tabletop game's name is Vox Machina's emergency code word, yelled during a leap from a window?

Jenga was meant to be spoken into a magic earpiece if spying on some dinner guests went wrong; the spy was paralysed before he could get the word out.

Which archmage, voiced on screen by Mark Strong, trained the Mighty Nein's Caleb Widogast as an assassin?

Trent Ikithon controls the Volstrucker, a secret group of wizard assassins, and the training he gave the young Caleb ended in a breakdown.

Which leviathan becomes patron of the Mighty Nein's warlock Fjord as he is drowning at sea?

Uk'otoa loses his warlock in the end: Fjord breaks the pact and pledges himself to the Wildmother, a goddess who also has dominion over the sea.

What is the name of the cat that the Mighty Nein's wizard Caleb Widogast uses to spy on others?

Frumpkin lets Caleb see what he cannot: in one episode the cat's spying exposes a stranger as a disguise worn by the drow wizard Essek.

Which order employs the Mighty Nein's monk Beauregard Lionett to root out corruption in the Dwendalian Empire?

The Cobalt Soul promotes Beau to Expositor, a rank for sensitive covert investigations, even though she starts out resentful of authority.

Which affliction sends Chetney Pock O'Pea, the Bells Hells' gnome woodworker, in search of aid?

Lycanthropy turns the woodworking artisan into a werewolf, a side of himself he sometimes cannot resist in the middle of an adventure.

Which Bells Hells warlock, killed once and raised by necromancy, hears a dead noblewoman's voice?

Laudna dies a second time during the campaign, which sends the rest of the party on a successful quest to bring her back.

Which studio, working with character designer Phil Bourassa, animates The Legend of Vox Machina?

Titmouse worked from heavily compressed scripts: one story arc that ran for about 35 hours on stream was squeezed into roughly six.

Which publisher releases Vox Machina Origins, the prequel adapting the party's pre-stream home game?

Dark Horse Comics had little tape to work from: those early home sessions were never formally recorded, apart from a few short clips the cast later released.

Which Critical Role tabletop game has players roll two twelve-sided dice, one for Hope and one for Fear?

Daggerheart arrived in May 2025 as the company's own fantasy system, with rules meant to make players think narratively and not just mechanically.

Which Critical Role publishing label, launched in 2020, is named after an honorary Vox Machina member?

Darrington Press is named for Taryon, an aspiring author who, within the story, published a book about his exploits with the party.

What did Critical Role name the subscription streaming service it launched in May 2024?

Beacon carries an aftershow filmed with the cast still at the table, plus cut-down versions of episodes that run only 60 to 90 minutes.

Which new branch of magic, bending time and space, did Critical Role's 2020 sourcebook introduce?

Dunamancy starts out in the story as magic wielded by the Kryn Dynasty, and the Mighty Nein's wizard Caleb learns two of its spells from the drow Essek.

What is the civil war among the gods called in Critical Role lore, the subject of a 2022 prequel?

The Calamity mini-series follows heroes from an age of high magic who try to prevent the disaster; a later sequel shows mortals rebuilding the world in its wake.

What is the residence outside Emon called that Vox Machina receives for saving the ruler's family?

Greyskull Keep came with seats on the city council, a privilege the ruler later suspends when the party attacks guests of his palace.

In which city on the continent of Marquet do the adventurers who become the Bells Hells first meet?

Jrusar is also where the party loses the fighter whose name it takes: Sir Bertrand Bell is ambushed and killed there one evening.

Which actor voices General Krieg, unmasked as a blue dragon, in The Legend of Vox Machina?

David Tennant's general commands the kingdom's military while secretly being the evil dragon Brimscythe.

Which digital toolset's sponsorship of Critical Role put tablets in front of the players?

D&D Beyond replaced the paper character sheets, though dice, dice trays and the players' handwritten diaries all stayed on the table.

Which play style, splitting a big cast into small groups, does Critical Role's fourth campaign use?

West Marches play began after four opening sessions, when the thirteen players were divided into the Soldiers, the Seekers and the Schemers.

Which game designer guest-starred as Spurt, a kobold who dies minutes after meeting the Mighty Nein?

Chris Perkins is also the only guest of that campaign who had already played in the first one, where he appeared as a fighter named Shale.