Critical Role Breaks Kickstarter With Vox Machina Animation Project
March 11, 2019 by brennon
The team behind the amazing Dungeons & Dragons Livestream, Critical Role, took to Kickstarter last week to fund their animation project for a Vox Machina-based special. They were hoping to make one small episode for the fans but it has blossomed into a full series...and they've broken pretty much every Kickstarter record out there.
For anyone who doesn't know who Vox Machina are, it is the Critical Role team of adventurers from Campaign One of their livestreamed show. Grog, Vex, Vax, Pike, Scanlan, Keyleth and Percy have found a place in the hearts of many and the team have always wanted to bring them to the screen in animated form. Thankfully, that is now a reality.
The story will be a pre-stream adventure which follows the characters through an adventure when they were around Level 7. However, with the addition of more Kickstarter funds, the team are also developing this story into a full-on series which will also encompass the Briarwood Arch, one of the most intense adventures from the first campaign.
The team are also drawing on the talents of many of their industry friends to make this a reality, having a hand in the process at every step. You can see the teaser introduction they produced down below...
Of course, the team are going to be voicing their own characters in the animation and...well...as a Critter, I can't wait. Critical Role was the reason I got back into Dungeons & Dragons after a really long hiatus and I have loved watching/listening to all 115 episodes and 373 hours of gameplay from that first adventure.
To put things into perspective about their current fundraiser, they were originally looking for a goal of $750,000. They have now rocketed through that and at the time of writing they are at nearly $7 Million. This equates to just over £5 Million!
The pledge levels haven't changed since the campaign begun with stretch goals looking to expand on the show rather than physical rewards for backers. You can either go in low or go really...really...high.
It's a shame that you don't get what I'd consider a 'real' reward until you look to drop $100. It would have been nice to see the dice for example, or maybe the cards, at lower pledge levels so there's something physical alongside the early access to the show.
However, these guys have the love of a vibrant and expansive community and I cannot wait to see how this all comes together.
Have you backed their campaign?
"...at the time of writing they are at nearly $7 Million!"
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Must really get around to watching CR again – still haven’t finished the first campaign yet! ?
Campaign II is awesome as well 😉
It has also broken a number of Kickstarter records and is progressing up the most funded chart as well.
It has indeed – probably on target to bust all of the goals. I’d imagine we’ll see Netflix or Amazon snap this up when it comes to distribution further down the line.
Since they stream on Twitch, which is owned by Amazon…
I think I know which one of the two has the inside track.
You were right… Amazon has picked up Critical Role animated for two 12 episode seasons. It’s mentioned on IMDB.
this could be a good show well worth watching.
I watched a few summary episodes, but I just don’t have the time to watch hundred’s of hours of people gaming… but I could watch the cartoon.
Pretty awesome to listen to the podcast versions in the background if you don’t have time to watch the VODs.
I looked for podcast downloads that I could listen to while I was out and about, but couldn’t see any on their website, just streaming video.
Podcasts are where?
http://criticalrolepodcast.geekandsundry.com/ here
Thanks. I was looking at Critical Role, not Geek and Sundry. Would I be better off starting with season two as there’s less of a backlog? Listened to some actual plays before… You Sothoth was quite funny, but I drifted away from Cthulhu and not caught up in a while. Their arcs were much shorter as they focused on one story… Masks of Nyarlothotep etc. Obviously with Cthulhu the party did not all survive, so players took on multiple roles. I always felt that character death was biggest weakness of Cthulhu, especially in a long campaign like Masks… to keep… Read more »
Campaign II is entirely separate from Campaign I so you don’t have to have watched the first one to understand it and follow the adventure – so it’s well worth diving in there.
I would still recommend Campaign I though, as it’s an epic High Fantasy adventure.
About 160 episodes so far… work 5 days a week… so that’s 32 weeks…. by which time there will be 32 more episodes… and that assumes I listen 5 days a week…. I’ll download them all now and will probably have retired before I catch up (and that is still 12.5 years away). If you want something else to listen to… try Decoder Ring Theatre. Black Jack Justice is excellent. https://decoderringtheatre.com/shows/black-jack-justice/ I’m not as keen on Red Panda, but Black Jack has great dialogue, between the two detectives in particular (it’s an Noir audio drama with humour). Seasons 1 to… Read more »
CR is something I keep trying to get into, but it’s so big it feels like a massive investment at this point, which is a shame because the characters and story of it sound awesome. This looks like the perfect chance to experience that.
For those looking for RPG shows with smaller season, there is an organisation call “Hyper RPG”. One of the runners helped set up Critical Role when is was broadcasting from “Geek & Sundry”‘s HQ.
Hyper RPG broadcast LIVE on Twitch and put some of their content on YouTube.
In the past they have done Cthulhu and FFG Star Wars.
They don’t do D&D but have a weekly 40K battle.
O
M
G
and i don’t use this expression lightly.
over 6Mil right now
This gets to show that you can’t put a value on content truly done with passion and heart, and that ppl crave tor this kind of entertainment in today’s artificial, corporate and profit driven worlds.