

It didn’t really introduce the characters the way we wanted it to introduce the characters.” “We originally had a totally different two-part episode that we had come up with, and then we just sort of threw it out. “We needed two episodes to really introduce the characters, to really get a sense of who they are, where they’re coming from,” said executive producer Brandon Auman ( Star Wars Resistance, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). The first two-episode arc, however, is another story. The Legend of Vox Machina could have been a very different show had another streaming network picked it up, but Amazon believed wholeheartedly in its mature themes. Thankfully we didn’t have to change too much, because we’re still really proud of what we did when we played through this game, it was really cool to have the opportunity to go in and kind of just kind of elevate and goose and adjust a few things here and there, a few knobs to kind of make it that much cooler a second time through.” It worked okay in the moment, but now when you come back to refine it you have the chance to really kind of flesh those out with the time and respect that you’d want to. “You’re creating improvised NPCs on the fly, and you kind of fumbled through it. “Originally you’re telling the story to be the stage for your players,” Mercer said. The challenge of Critical Role is staying on top of the fantastical details

A weird die roll can make a nobody into an integral part of the plot, and that was certainly true for Critical Role’s Vox Machina campaign. It’s not uncommon for those ad hoc characters to suddenly attract a lot of attention. Of course, sometimes you just need a random bartender and have to pull a name and a personality out of a hat.
#Vox machina campaign professional#
For Mercer, a professional voice actor, they’re also an expression of his skill as an artist. They become the object of quests, and the villains propelling the action. NPCs give the imaginary world narrative texture and emotion. “How could I bring this NPC to be a little more important and impactful to this moment, give them a little more life?”ĭungeon Masters (DMs) will often spend as much or more time crafting NPCs (non-player characters) as players do crafting their characters. “One of the cool things about it was going back and being able to find the moments where I’m like, how could I have done this a little better?” Mercer told Polygon recently in an interview. He’s getting the chance to play out his Dungeons & Dragons campaign for a second time, with the original players all sitting at the table.
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With The Legend of Vox Machina, he’s getting an opportunity that virtually no one ever does - well, aside from the “making an animated television series” bit, I guess. Matthew Mercer is an extraordinary Dungeon Master, but even the best ones make mistakes.
