Critical Role showcased the strength of an ever-growing continuity in two separate ways this week through its two signature shows. In the latest episode of the popular Actual Play series, DM Matt Mercer orchestrated the return of The Mighty Nein, the popular protagonists of the show’s second campaign. Members of the Mighty Nein previously appeared as NPCs in Campaign 3, but the big twist is that players will roleplay as both the Mighty Nein and the current Bell’s Hells cast of heroes for at least the next episode. Essentially, the cast (save for Robbie Daymond) will have two character sheets and act out two separate characters for at least a bit in the new episode.
Campaign 3 has leaned into the continuity of Critical Role in multiple ways. The show has brought in past player characters as NPCs and used cameo appearances by guest cast to great effect. However, this week’s payoff showcases a unique strength of Critical Role both as an Actual Play series and as a wider franchise. Not only do fans get to see the cast return to a beloved set of past characters, they get to enjoy the chaos of the entire table juggling two sets of characters at once. This experiment should provide new interactions, new connections, and even potential new conflicts.
Throughout Campaign 3, we’ve seen Critical Role push the boundaries of their established Actual Play structure. The show has split the party with multiple guests (including an arc where a guest star was secretly a villain) and brought in temporary DMs. It even had “a story within a story” showcasing a historical event play out with a totally different cast. The reappearance of the Mighty Nein as player characters is a new twist that only works because fans connected to those characters in a previous campaign. Now controlled by their original players, the Mighty Nein can impact the overall narrative of Campaign 3, potentially shifting a high-stakes storyline that involves the gods facing extinction by another primordial eldritch entity.
Critical Role is also exploring its own continuity in other interesting ways in its animated series. This season of The Legend of Vox Machina featured Zerxus Ilerez, a character from one of their most popular Exandria Unlimited arcs. Zerxus, played by Luis Carazo in both Exandria Unlimited and the animated series, was a paladin who attempted and failed to prevent a conflict between gods in ancient Exandrian times. Exandria Unlimited: Calamity aired in 2022, long after Campaign 1 ended, and Zerxus never interacted with Vox Machina during the first campaign as the character didn’t exist at the time.
However, using Zerxus in The Legend of Vox Machina served multiple purposes for both the animated series and the Critical Role franchise. It was an Easter egg of sorts that allowed the animated series to pay homage to the Exandria Unlimited storyline. It also established Zerxus’s current status, setting up another storyline that could be revisited either in animated form or Actual Play for in the future. Finally, it served to build out and explain the Calamity for a different audience. The Calamity casts a long shadow over all of Exandria and Critical Role lore, but it was only casually mentioned in Campaign 1.
With Critical Role approaching its 10th anniversary, it’s fascinating to see how the group is both growing and molding its continuity in real time. From using its animated series to revise and build on the early days of the franchise to leaning on the past to find new ways to tell its current story around the table, Critical Role is toying with how a multimedia franchise can successfully use canon and continuity outside of nostalgia purposes. It’s a strategy that only works with the approach that parts of the original stories can be changed and strengthened without cheapening them. For Critical Role, continuity is just another tool in their storytelling tool belt. Now, we’re seeing how that continuity can pay dividends as Critical Role continues to grow both at the game table and in other forms of media.
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