Critical Role To Wrap Up Third Campaign, New Exandria Unlimited Miniseries Announced

Critical Role's third campaign will end next week with an extra-sized final episode. Today, the popular streaming series announced that its third campaign would wrap up on February 6th with an 8.5 hour episode. The series finale is being called the "conclusion to this chapter in Exandrian history, and the dawn of a new age." The third campaign followed a group of adventurers who got wrapped up in a plot to rid the fantasy world of Exandria of its gods via a god-eating entity trapped in one of Exandria's moons. Characters from Critical Role's previous campaigns made significant appearances in the campaign, with the cast playing their old characters for limited periods.

Following the finale, Brennan Lee Mulligan will lead another 4-part Exandria Unlimited episode, titled Exandria Unlimited: Divergence. The series will explore the Divergence, a moment when the gods of Exandria removed themselves from the world after a devastating war between pantheons. The cast will also include Matt Mercer, Liam O'Brien, Jasmine Don, Alex Ward, and Celia Rose Gooding. That series will air for four weeks starting on February 13th at 7 PM on Critical Role's various streaming channels.

No plans were announced for a fourth Critical Role campaign. Campaign 3 ended Critical Role's tradition of weekly live episodes, with the show shifting to pre-recorded episodes that aired three times a month. Speculation has grown that Critical Role's cast (which has remained the same for 10 years) would shift, or that the game would abandon Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition in favor of Daggerheart, a fantasy RPG developed by Critical Role's Darrington Press imprint.

 

[Elvish Lore]

I think CR will continue to use their campaigns going forward as springboards for more TV shows, films and video games because the money involved in those expansions of the IP are hugely significant.

They've already confirmed that they are sticking with D&D.

For Campaign 4? No, they have NOT confirmed they're sticking with D&D. But I can very well see that with contained campaign story arcs.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do something very different going forward and do much smaller campaigns. Not hundreds of sessions but dozens instead. Folks still like the long form but with viewership numbers having fallen a lot over the past 2-3 years, they're probably aiming to be more nimble on their feet.

I see people equating Daggerheart with Candela Obscura in terms of Critical Role support but a lot more money and effort has been poured into Daggerheart than CO; DH is a much bigger deal for CR and Darrington Press.

In other words, it's very likely they commit to a long-term campaign using DH in order to push their big game. I think this will be a year-long thing and not something like 150 sessions, though. But, again, the expansions of the IP and story arcs into other media is where big money is.

 

[Clint_L]

I get it but it feels like a full separation is inevitable.

I don't think so. I think there is a lot of money yet to be made, on both sides, by maintaining what has been an extremely lucrative relationship.

Re. another post: "lack of forward momentum" should be the subtitle for Campaign 3. So much time is spent angstily rehashing the same problem. It's like all of the characters are suddenly channeling Hamlet. Poop or get off the pot, already.

 

[Bomberooski]

Will the system affect wether or not you all listen to C4?

I'm so far behind (still working through C2) and think I'm just going to start C4 when it starts. 4 hours for a week seems a lot more enjoyable that trying to binge as much as I can a week.

 

[Chaltab]

I've found Daggerheart kind of clunky and hard to follow so I'm not sure. Maybe if the premise intrigues me.

 

[Mort]

Will the system affect wether or not you all listen to C4?

Probably, one of the things I like is watching 5e used in an enjoyable way. I'll see how much I like Daggerheart.

Though at this point, I'm so far behind it's mostly theoretical anyway!

 

[Seramus]

Will the system affect wether or not you all listen to C4?

Yeah. I'm definitely going to give them a fair chance on C4 no matter what system they use, but I really need both the Cast and the System to be interesting for me to stick around. I like more systems than 5E, but if the system ends up not interesting me then I wouldn't stay just for the cast.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Will the system affect wether or not you all listen to C4?

I'm so far behind (still working through C2) and think I'm just going to start C4 when it starts. 4 hours for a week seems a lot more enjoyable that trying to binge as much as I can a week.

Nope, never watched it accept for the occasional clip, but I love the Vox Machina cartoon & am looking forward to the next season and the Mighty Nein animated series.

 

[billd91]

Re. another post: "lack of forward momentum" should be the subtitle for Campaign 3. So much time is spent angstily rehashing the same problem. It's like all of the characters are suddenly channeling Hamlet. Poop or get off the pot, already.

One thing my friends and I have noticed is that this campaign is packed with relatively mercurial chaos bringers... and Orym. And I'm sure that has implications for getting to the story and advancing on goals. They should all agree to bring relatively normal characters and make Liam play the oddball for C4.

 

[TiQuinn]

One thing my friends and I have noticed is that this campaign is packed with relatively mercurial chaos bringers... and Orym. And I'm sure that has implications for getting to the story and advancing on goals. They should all agree to bring relatively normal characters and make Liam play the oddball for C4.

They really do need to start reining in some of meanderings. Also, WTH. An 8 hour episode?

 

[Stalker0]

Is it out yet? If so, is it any good?

Its like a mismash of a few d20 systems, 5e/4e/13th age.

I would say that the number one element of the game that highlights it is: "The players rolls are currency".

Meaning that player rolls can generate the "hope" resource when certain values are rolled, or can give the DM "fear" to use against them. This means that every player roll is innately important beyond the simple "what thing am I trying to accomplish".

As a consequence, daggerheart rolls are supposed to be for important things, your not supposed to have players roll a random history check "just for the heck of it" but it should represent a pretty major dive into history, otherwise you should just give the players success on many minor things and save rolls for the big stuff. Its likely the mindset that would be the hardest for many dnd dms to get used to.