Critical Role Critical Role’s 7-hour Campaign Finale

It’s not the last of Critical Role (obviously) but it is the end of their second campaign this Thursday. And it’s 7 hours long!

Critical Role’s highly successful second campaign -- The Mighty Nein -- premiered over three years ago and has built up over 530 hours of adventures, including over 440 villains conquered and over 100 hours of battles (source: CritRoleStats), and this Thursday, June 3, the epic saga of Critical Role’s second campaign is set to embark on its final adventure.

Since the launch of the campaign on January 11, 2018, Critical Role has chronicled the story of Jester Lavorre (Laura Bailey), Yasha Nydoorin (Ashley Johnson), Caleb Widogast (Liam O’Brien), Beauregard "Beau" Lionett (Marisha Ray), Nott the Brave/Veth Brenatto (Sam Riegel), Fjord (Travis Willingham), Mollymauk "Molly" Tealeaf and Caduceus Clay (both played by Taliesin Jaffe) of The Mighty Nein as they explored Wildemount, formed relationships, spat in the face of death and buried allies, realized that not all goblins are as they seem, discovered the power a friendly cupcake (sprinkled with some Dust of Deliciousness) can have in befriending powerful foes, and showcased the resiliency one can have in the face of insurmountable odds time and time again.

Experience the final chapter of The Mighty Nein as Critical Role concludes the legend of this ragtag group of miscreants that millions across the globe have come to know and love. How will their journey end and what’s next from the world of Critical Role? Tune in to find out!

The final episode of Critical Role’s Campaign 2: The Mighty Nein airs this Thursday, June 3 2021 at 7PM PST simultaneously on Twitch (twitch.tv/criticalrole) and YouTube (youtube.com/criticalrole), with the replayable VOD of the show available on Critical Role’s YouTube channel the following Monday.

Critters…. How do you want to do this?

 

[Morrus]

I could see them branch out into some other system. Actually, I think the DDB people have a tabletop system now - I skimmed it but it looked a lot like Savage Worlds to me.

DDB’s owner, Fandom, has bought the Cortex system, which is powering their upcoming new RPGs. I don’t know what their relationship with CR is.

 

[Matchstick]

I am a huge fan of how accessible they have made D&D but I can't imagine watching others play for 7 hours. Obviously, I'm in the vast minority I just can't even imagine playing for 7 hours anymore either.

I'm not sure why they didn't just split it up. It's recorded after all. The time investment on their part has already happened, all they need is someone to hit the play button.

 

[Morrus]

I'm not sure why they didn't just split it up. It's recorded after all. The time investment on their part has already happened, all they need is someone to hit the play button.

I imagine they assume your pause button works too.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I am a huge fan of how accessible they have made D&D but I can't imagine watching others play for 7 hours. Obviously, I'm in the vast minority I just can't even imagine playing for 7 hours anymore either.

I listen to it as a podcast while I'm doing other things and typically over several real-life days.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm not sure why they didn't just split it up. It's recorded after all. The time investment on their part has already happened, all they need is someone to hit the play button.

The length highlights it as an event.

I suspect at least part of the run-time will be an epilogue, so it's not like there aren't points where they can split it.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

People do keep wondering if they'll go to a new system, but... I'm not sure. I guess it depends on what the state of D&D Beyond as an advertiser is.

I think the speculation comes heavily from people who are only semi-familiar with the show. Maybe people who have actually been watching recently have greater insight, but I, as someone who has watched hundreds of hours of their content but is currently half a campaign behind, would rate the chances of them changing games in the near future as higher than the chances of a major professional sports team changing games, but only marginally.

Now if and when either 6e drops or Matt Mercer designs his own full-featured RPG system, then there will be some real questions about the future of their game system for the show.

Given that they've never really struggled to find primary sponsors for their show, as far as I can tell, I think the business drive to D&D is less to do with D&D Beyond, and more to do with D&D having the largest fanbase and the fact that at this point they are getting materials officially published through WotC.

 

[Parmandur]

I think the speculation comes heavily from people who are only semi-familiar with the show. Maybe people who have actually been watching recently have greater insight, but I, as someone who has watched hundreds of hours of their content but is currently half a campaign behind, would rate the chances of them changing games in the near future as higher than the chances of a major professional sports team changing games, but only marginally.

Now if and when either 6e drops or Matt Mercer designs his own full-featured RPG system, then there will be some real questions about the future of their game system for the show.

Given that they've never really struggled to find primary sponsors for their show, as far as I can tell, I think the business drive to D&D is less to do with D&D Beyond, and more to do with D&D having the largest fanbase and the fact that at this point they are getting materials officially published through WotC.

I agree, though Mercer does have his own full modern day arcana RPG coming in the next year. I think they will run it on stream, but not replace D&D.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I think the speculation comes heavily from people who are only semi-familiar with the show.

"People who disagree with me are uninformed" is an unnecessary way to start.

They've used numerous other systems for one shots and they've been so successful at it, they apparently sold out the print run of Monsterhearts 2 the night that show aired.

Given that they've never really struggled to find primary sponsors for their show, as far as I can tell, I think the business drive to D&D is less to do with D&D Beyond, and more to do with D&D having the largest fanbase and the fact that at this point they are getting materials officially published through WotC.

Their Tails of Equestria one-shot has been viewed 577k times, comparable to their D&D episodes. The audience is tuning in for the cast, not the game system.

 

[pumasleeve]

I am a huge fan of how accessible they have made D&D but I can't imagine watching others play for 7 hours. Obviously, I'm in the vast minority I just can't even imagine playing for 7 hours anymore either.

They have definitely taken the game to a much bigger audience, and are helping WOTC make tons of money, but for me, the game was doing fine with out them. They have made a specific type of dnd experience popular- which is basically sedentary cosplay, and their fans are joining gaming groups with expectation that this is the correct way to play the game. This has caused adventure gamers who prefer dungeon crawls and combat focused games to migrate to OSR or DCC alternatives. So yes the game is more popular and successful than ever before, but not for everyone.

 

[Mercador]

Enlight me, is there a lot of people actually watching this? 7 hours seems a big time investment. I guess you could listen while doing indoor biking?