Oct. 11, 2024

Critical Role's Spellbinding Saga, Exploring the D&D Inspiration Behind "The Legend of Vox Machina" with Adam Brasher

What happens when a band of voice actors brings their beloved Dungeons & Dragons campaign to life in an animated series? Join me, along with my brilliant co-host Adam Brasher, as we explore the world of "The Legend of Vox Machina," the Amazon show that shattered Kickstarter records. We dive into the vibrant tapestry of D&D that this series presents, weaving together the creativity of its star-studded cast—including talents like Tony Hale, Stephanie Beatriz, and David Tennant—and the community-driven spirit that brought it to life. Hear Adam's journey back into D&D and his insights into portraying characters in his own podcast.

From spell mishaps to Scanlan's antics with the Bag of Holding, our conversation unveils the clever nods to D&D mechanics and Critical Role moments—elements that offer a comforting sense of nostalgia for fans. Alongside these insights, we celebrate the series' ability to seamlessly adapt D&D's intricate gameplay into a cinematic narrative.

Finally, we shine a light on the Easter eggs and nods sprinkled throughout the series, from a little red ferret to a sandal in a jar. It's a treasure trove for Critical Role fans, filled with magical items and comical in-game struggles. Whether you're a long-time D&D enthusiast or a newcomer to the series, this episode offers a joyous celebration of all things Vox Machina.

Vox Machina Comics: https://digital.darkhorse.com/series/859/critical-role

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Chapters

00:00 - The Legend of Vox Machina

12:13 - The Vox Machina Animated Series

18:44 - Creating Kickstarter Characters and D&D Moments

27:45 - D&D Mechanics in Vox Machina

40:07 - Grog, Scanlan, and Gilmore's Adventures

45:20 - Exploring Easter Eggs in Vox Machina

57:55 - Anatomy of Vox Machina's Adventures

01:03:46 - Community Engagement and Connection

Transcript

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00:00:00.119 --> 00:00:07.009
What D&D elements inspired the legend of Vox Machina, the fastest Kickstarter-backed project in history.

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Hey everybody, Aaron, here from the Fandom Portals podcast.

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This week I sat down with Adam Brasher, who is a very close friend of mine and fellow cast member of the D&D Valiant Odyssey podcast, and we discussed Vox Machina that's right, the legend of Vox Machina, the D&D-inspired cartoon that is taking Amazon by storm.

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It is a Kickstarter-funded project and it is the fastest one to break the record for being backed by more than 88,000 people.

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In this episode, we discuss the Dungeons and Dragons elements that inspired the show.

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You'll discover all of the inclusive and creative content creators that are behind the cartoon itself and how a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors turned their Dungeons Dragons tabletop campaign into a cartoon that everybody can't get enough of.

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So sit back, relax and enjoy this episode of the Fandom Portals podcast featuring myself and Adam Brasher.

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Welcome to the Fandom Portals podcast, where your curiosity meets community in a celebration of all things geek.

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We build connections on every episode by delving into your favorite fandom questions in the time it takes you to roll three natural 20s in a row.

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I'm your host, Aaron Davies, and today we are thrilled to be joined by the legendary Brash Rackham, better known as Adam Brasher, Professional D&D player who lives and breathes tabletop roleplaying.

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He's one of the voices behind the incredible D&D Valiancy podcast, where he brings to life the characters of Felix and Liliana Unalae.

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Whether you're a seasoned adventurer or just starting your first campaign, Adam's stories, insights and energy will take your love for D&D to the next level.

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First of all, he's a really good friend of mine and I'm really stoked to have him here.

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So, Adam, how are you going?

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What's been going on with you?

00:02:03.805 --> 00:02:06.308
I'm very good, I'm very busy and I'm glad to actually be back.

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Let's get a little bit of an insight on you.

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You've been playing D&D for a while and you have a really interesting story with Critical Role, which is going to be the topic of today's podcast.

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Do you want to give us a brief rundown of your history with Dungeons Dragons?

00:02:20.582 --> 00:02:20.742
Yep.

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So I played a little bit back when I was in my wee years of high school.

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I then got off of it a lot because you know peer pressure of like things weren't as cool as they could be and you know you have to try and be cool, especially later in high school.

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Yeah, and then after years of neglecting a lot of my nerd side, I um, it was just one day I was like you know what?

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I want to play dnd again, and so I just started this facebook page and got a whole bunch of people to come and organize something with the gaming pie here in townsville and got a whole hundred people to rock up to this bar and all play dungeon dragons.

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So that was the reigniting of my dungeon and I was hoping just to play.

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But then I ended up DMing for a lot of people and then eventually found my GeoTable, which was really great.

00:03:12.090 --> 00:03:13.764
Yeah, yeah, that's how we met.

00:03:13.764 --> 00:03:17.531
Actually, we met through some people that actually went to that event that we know mutually.

00:03:17.531 --> 00:03:24.705
And then, yeah, you came and joined the D&D Valiant Odyssey podcast table and the rest between you and I is history.

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You play Felix and you play Liliana Unali.

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What's your experience been like on the podcast of D&D Valiant Odyssey?

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And then we'll go on to talk about some critical role stuff.

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I'd love to have a second to it.

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Like I really had a really soft spot for Felix because just how I think he brought out like the pureness in myself even as well, because he was so like always on the straight and narrow and like he was always trying his best to be the best person he could be.

00:03:52.448 --> 00:03:57.592
Yeah, the ups and downs of the D&D table, it definitely brings out the best and the worst of us.

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But I agree, I think Felix was a bright light at the table.

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I think it was a really great sort of character to come and join a party and, yeah, you played him to perfection.

00:04:06.323 --> 00:04:16.653
So if you guys want to go and check out Adam Brasher playing Felix a adorably awesome tabaxi then make sure you go and check out the D&D Valiant Odyssey podcast.

00:04:16.779 --> 00:04:18.144
That one's hosted by yours truly as well.

00:04:18.144 --> 00:04:20.250
But today we're here for a different reason.

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Here on Phantom Portals, we are looking at the Legend of Vox Machina.

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We're looking at this because it's part of our October run of animation celebration, celebrating the 28th of October being International Animation Day, and this animation is a star-studded one, not only because it has a great cast, but also because this one is inspired by Dungeons and Dragons.

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It's a cartoon that was initially funded by Kickstarter and broke the record for the fastest back project on the platform.

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It actually secured $11.3 million from more than 88,000 people, and that was only in 45 days, and today we are deep diving on this beloved piece of art.

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So by the end of this podcast, with the help of Brash Rackham, you guys will uncover the Easter eggs hidden in episodes one and two of the Legend of Vox Machina and see how they capture the essence of the ttrpg and its transition into animation.

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You'll discover which dungeons and dragons elements inspired some of the greatest moments in the show, diving deep into the lore and mechanics behind them.

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You'll get to know some of the most inclusive and creative content creators, as we share their passion for critical role, dungeons and dragons and animation and the collaborative magic behind it, and along the way, you'll learn more about D&D, its rich world and how it continues to influence pop culture today.

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So, brash, are you ready to jump into Episodes 1 and Episodes 2 of the Legend of Vox Machina?

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I am Very good, all right, beautiful.

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So these two episodes are titled the Terror of Tal'Dorei, part one and part two, and it's a really great jumping in point for anybody who's into sort of fantasy-esque cartoons.

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It has a great cast of characters and I think we might go to start off with by giving just a brief rundown of the show.

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So it's basically surrounding this party of adventurers, obviously inspired by D&D, who have a varying range of abilities.

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At the start of this TV show they're kind of mercenaries looking for work and they're banded together for no reason in particular other than they're all kind of just losers, and then, as the show goes on, they kind of bond and become a found family, you might say, and they face challenges along the way, using their abilities and strengths to make the group as a whole a unified and fighting force in the land of Teldoreore.

00:06:23.031 --> 00:06:34.329
So each episode actually is inspired by the campaign run by matthew mercer, created through critical role, and it has a cast of a few of the different voice actors that he plays with.

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So did you want to go through some of those for me, adam, and tell us a little bit about, uh, the characters that they play as well?

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just briefly yep, so the actual ceo now ofle, which is Travis Willingham.

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You also might know him.

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He's the voice of Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist.

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He's also the voice of Thor from the monster animations.

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He is a phenomenal voice actor and he's actually, probably, out of all the cast members, probably my favorite.

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I'm even wearing the Strongjaw Ale shirt.

00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:16.213
That's based off of his character, grog Strongjaw, who is a Goliath barbarian, but you'll notice, in the show they call him a giant because of distancing a little bit from the terminology yeah, wizards of the Coast yeah.

00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:34.745
So, yeah, you'll see him being referred to as a giant, rather than but yeah, he is the barbarian strong man, very dumb, yet somehow, sometimes, sometimes and this has happened throughout the actual campaign itself as well he'll have sparks of like genius, and then they'll be like wow, you're actually not as dumb as we think you are.

00:07:34.745 --> 00:07:39.009
And then he'll say something's dumb and they're like there, it is just to prove that point.

00:07:39.009 --> 00:07:40.233
Yeah, that's it.

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Uh.

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And he always closely followed by Patrick foot, playedley johnson, who is also the voice of ellie in the last of us, and she also played ellie's mom in the live action tv show.

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She plays pike trickfoot, the cleric gnome, her grandfather actually rescued grog.

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Then you have scanlon shortholt, who's played by sam regal, who has done many voices for games and anime, but he's also very proficient in the casting aspect of it.

00:08:08.701 --> 00:08:13.367
So he does a lot of casting for shows and he's casting as a crafting director.

00:08:13.367 --> 00:08:22.127
He's Jen Charlot, the classic bard, and by classic bard I mean the one that is always memed.

00:08:22.740 --> 00:08:24.103
Yeah, he's a little cheeky, A little cheeky.

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He's especially little cheeky, a little cheeky.

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He's especially cheeky in the show.

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Then you have the twins Vex and Vax, played by Laura Bailey and Liam O'Brien, again, both massive voice actors.

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Laura especially she's done everything from playing Trunks in Dragon Ball Z, black Widow, but they play the twins, the half-elf twins, vax being the rogue, or Vax'ldan being the rogue, loves these daggers, and Vex is the ranger with her bear trinket.

00:08:52.469 --> 00:08:56.067
Then you have Percy I'm not going to try and say his whole name.

00:08:56.440 --> 00:08:57.645
Yes, he's got a mouthful of one.

00:08:58.039 --> 00:08:59.868
Mouthful of a name but Percy de Rolo III.

00:08:59.868 --> 00:09:14.333
He was the first, probably adoration of like a a gunslinger, yeah, um, in probably the 5e of dnd it was a created she created for his character.

00:09:14.333 --> 00:09:17.466
He has a very troubled backstory um, which is in season two.

00:09:17.466 --> 00:09:25.943
And then we've got uh, keyleth played by marisha ray, um Keyleth played by Marisha Ray, um she I at.

00:09:25.943 --> 00:09:39.105
I at first, when I first started watching Box of Magnar, was a little eh about some Keyleth, but very quickly she really ruled me as like, because she's that she's sort of the same as Felix in a way.

00:09:39.245 --> 00:10:05.032
She's sort of that happy-go-lucky, like come on gang, let's go be positive, and then um, the heart of the crew yeah, exactly, and like, at first it annoyed me, then like it really grew on me, like she, she wormed her way in, but, um, yeah, so she plays keyless, uh, the era shari, and she's um running around the world trying to do her amante, which is which, if, once she, if she completes it, she becomes the new leader of the ashari.

00:10:05.032 --> 00:10:08.846
Um, uh, and who are we missing?

00:10:08.846 --> 00:10:10.230
We're missing matthew.

00:10:10.230 --> 00:10:13.860
Matthew, or the dm, who plays a variety of characters.

00:10:13.860 --> 00:10:16.605
He's an amazing voice actor and an amazing dm.

00:10:16.667 --> 00:10:22.570
so, yeah, they're very, they're a very talented crew and they've definitely taken their passion for dungeons and dragons and really run with it.

00:10:22.570 --> 00:10:26.986
So I think, with our character introductions aside, we'll jump into the episodes.

00:10:26.986 --> 00:10:32.672
Episode 1, obviously titled the Terror of Tal'Dorei Terror of Tal'Dorei, yeah, part 1.

00:10:32.692 --> 00:10:33.393
Part 1, part 2.

00:10:33.899 --> 00:10:40.282
Yeah, part 1 we'll jump into, and I think the first thing that was noticeable to me was the well, two things In the introduction scene.

00:10:40.282 --> 00:10:46.731
Obviously Matt is doing the narration over the top of the introduction to to the first show and the camera flare at the very start.

00:10:46.731 --> 00:10:49.576
Obviously in the centers features a d20 sort of shape.

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That was the first thing.

00:10:50.601 --> 00:10:59.522
But then the second thing you see that raven sort of swoop through which is obviously reminiscent in the title sequence as well, the raven obviously being a symbol later on in critical role.

00:10:59.522 --> 00:11:00.705
That is very, very important.

00:11:01.025 --> 00:11:15.370
Uh, linked to the character of Axel Dahn, he is eventually, through various courses of action, going to be the, the matron of the raven, queen, and that is her symbology and she sort of looks after death and life and the transition and the journey throughout both of those.

00:11:15.370 --> 00:11:31.307
But she's also very well associated with the threads of life as well and you'll see in the start sequence where all of those golden threads just sort of whip around all of the characters and that is supposed to be a metaphor for like destiny and the way that their, their destiny is sort of intertwined as characters that bring them all together.

00:11:31.488 --> 00:11:40.626
So that was the very start and that nod yeah to the raven queen yeah, because you'll you'll notice a lot of ravens throughout the whole entire show, actually just here and there.

00:11:40.626 --> 00:11:49.947
You'll just see them all over this place, which is the because the whole entire campaign like campaign one, though you don't really notice it until the end is heavily revolved around the Raven Queen.

00:11:49.947 --> 00:11:53.274
But yeah, it's probably one of my favorite parts of the show.

00:11:53.274 --> 00:11:54.519
And it's just a quick part.

00:11:54.519 --> 00:11:56.628
It's the first adventures you meet.

00:11:57.902 --> 00:11:58.806
Yeah, called the Metaverse.

00:11:59.820 --> 00:12:13.759
And you see them staying on the hill and they all have similar mechanisms to some, like characters from a little known book movie, maybe lord of the rings, and then they all just get wiped out.

00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:15.323
Absolutely no, that's.

00:12:15.323 --> 00:12:19.246
That's a really great sort of opening too, and I love the fact that they're called the, the murder hobos.

00:12:19.246 --> 00:12:21.798
Can you tell everybody in this listing, like, what's it?

00:12:21.798 --> 00:12:22.561
What's a murder hobo?

00:12:22.561 --> 00:12:23.822
Why is that significant to dnd?

00:12:23.822 --> 00:12:28.974
Because they put that in that in there purposefully for everybody that knew if your group on murder hobos.

00:12:29.220 --> 00:12:49.465
That means you just go around and you pretty much kill everything and you don't really focus on any part of the actual story you just kill things because you know murder hoboing can be fun for the person doing it but obviously for the other people they're trying to enjoy in the dm's crafted the story for you, it can be a little harsh, so Wizard of the Coast sort of allowing that sort of line for those sort of players as well, bringing out the campaign for them.

00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:58.447
I thought it was a bit sort of tongue-in-cheek that the creators here of the Vox Machina cartoon actually killed the moths straight away, like absolutely annihilated them in the most destructive way possible.

00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:07.745
Just to show hobos is not a thing that they enjoy here at critical role.

00:13:07.745 --> 00:13:10.953
And another thing on it all I like and I think it shows is that this isn't a kid's cartoon.

00:13:10.953 --> 00:13:18.770
Yeah, because the live action is very heavily like no blood and guts and gore and obviously like it's described in the show.

00:13:18.770 --> 00:13:23.528
But, um, like in in their show they swear like sailors.

00:13:24.109 --> 00:13:27.923
Lots of adult themes in the in the twitch live stream show.

00:13:27.943 --> 00:13:30.870
Yeah, so I like how like the straight away, they're like the first scene.

00:13:30.870 --> 00:13:34.024
This is what you're gonna expect from the show?

00:13:34.265 --> 00:13:41.461
yeah, exactly, and I think you know that it probably didn't catch many people off guard because those that watch the show and back the show know exactly what they're in for for it.

00:13:41.461 --> 00:13:50.633
So, yeah, um, and you know that's a pretty quick point for parents to sort of click it off if they've accidentally what I think yeah, not on.

00:13:50.932 --> 00:14:01.128
Yeah, um, after this scene we kind of transition onto a beautiful shot of amman, and then we get to see the council of taldore, and they have got some stars behind the mic.

00:14:01.128 --> 00:14:06.844
So, first of all, sir finn's, played by tony hale, you've got, uh, keema of Vaud by Stephanie Beatriz.

00:14:06.844 --> 00:14:09.754
Heaps and heaps more throughout the series as well.

00:14:09.754 --> 00:14:20.671
The guest stars that they've got here are just absolutely 10 out of 10, including, like General Krieg, voiced by David Tennant in his traditional Scottish, which you rarely see so thick as well.

00:14:20.671 --> 00:14:30.865
And then, you know, as this series goes on, you see more and more of these stars, including, including, you know, like troy baker later makes an appearance, and they even have billy boyd, who played pippin in the lord of the rings.

00:14:30.865 --> 00:14:52.346
Like these sort of guest stars are sort of reminiscent to me of some of the the guest stars that they have on the critical role live stream as well, because they do have people coming in from time to time to play various different characters and then, after we sort of move in from the council, then obviously telling everybody that the place is under siege from this massive threat, this unknown threat.

00:14:52.346 --> 00:14:53.749
That's sort of carousing through the land.

00:14:53.749 --> 00:15:06.390
They talk about needing the best mercenaries in the land and we smash cut to possibly the worst mercenaries in the entire land, which is the tribe of Vox Machina, and we see them in a scene that is very, very common in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign.

00:15:06.390 --> 00:15:08.774
To be the first ever combat scenario that you do.

00:15:09.179 --> 00:15:39.461
I think it was really awesome that they they included like little little tidbits like this, that sort of make the D&D knowledge base in the in the fans just sort of come to life, where you know Goliath says, oh, giant kin are usually known to be extremely competitive, and they put that in the show, in this small piece of dialogue, just for those real fans to just sort of you know, get behind and and know, just have to have that gotcha moment um, when they move into the combat, though of the bar scene, there are so many various different spells and moves and little tidbits from the show that we can sort of pick apart as well.

00:15:39.903 --> 00:15:51.385
So, one of them obviously, being keyless grasping vines, which we talked a bit off mark about, knowing that sort of keyless does the hand motion from the live show every time that her character does it in the animated show.

00:15:51.385 --> 00:16:06.693
Uh, they've actually included that in there as well, which is another nod to the great tv show and a great sort of easter egg as well yeah, yeah, marisha ray's famous hand up and grasped down for all the spell casting, which is, yeah, she just put the dramatic into it.

00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:15.149
But, yeah, and even even percy, with his misfiring I mean the misfire of his gun yeah, because that happens way too often in the actual live action show.

00:16:15.149 --> 00:16:22.658
But for percy he always like critically when it's critically needed his gun will misfire and he'll have to spend a turn fixing his gun.

00:16:22.698 --> 00:16:28.493
Fixing it, yeah, which is a dnd mechanic, obviously, as you said, that they made for that campaign being brought over from pathfinder.

00:16:28.493 --> 00:16:30.785
But obviously as he rolled a one, the gun would break.

00:16:30.785 --> 00:16:33.283
He'd have to spend that time sort of repairing it as well.

00:16:33.283 --> 00:16:38.961
I even liked where, um, they showed vax and vex, which is the two half elf twins for the first time.

00:16:38.961 --> 00:16:43.230
You know vax, is there sort of pickpocketing during the fight and throwing the gold to vex?

00:16:43.230 --> 00:16:53.130
And they did that because in the live show the player who played vex, laura bailey, was actually responsible for the party's funds and she actually was a character that was pretty money hungry, wasn't she?

00:16:53.150 --> 00:16:59.881
she was a bit of a gold quarter yep, and they uh, relentlessly made fun of her for it during the show and even in the other campaigns.

00:16:59.881 --> 00:17:03.128
They continuously like they'll say, hey, hey, laurie, your Vex is showing.

00:17:03.128 --> 00:17:07.275
Yes, yeah, when money gets involved.

00:17:07.275 --> 00:17:14.088
So, yes, I thought it was a really good nod to that, and how money hungry that she really is.

00:17:14.088 --> 00:17:20.965
Yeah, I do like the introduction of Scanlon, though, too, during the bar fight, doing what he does best.

00:17:20.965 --> 00:17:22.411
Absolutely yeah.

00:17:22.411 --> 00:17:23.903
Serenading the bar owner's daughter.

00:17:23.903 --> 00:17:24.285
Absolutely yeah.

00:17:24.285 --> 00:17:25.910
Serenading the bar keeps all the bar owner's daughter.

00:17:26.551 --> 00:17:28.625
Exactly, yeah, in classic Bard fashion.

00:17:28.625 --> 00:17:47.391
You know Sam Riegel plays the Bard so well and you know he's actually made Bards famous because of the way that he played Scanlon Shorthalt and you know they've really sort of put him in the thick of it literally and you know you really get a good glimpse of that character and sort of harkens back to how he was played by sam in the live show as well.

00:17:47.510 --> 00:18:08.914
I even liked how, you know, pike does her sort of yellow shield that goes around her forearm, denoting the shield of faith shield of faith, yeah, which is a dnd spell that you know obviously augments your your ac to plus two as well, and it's just those small nods that us as dnd players and anybody sort of watching can just sort of pick up as you're looking at it, and it's almost like a you could do it as a game almost, or like a Where's Wally?

00:18:08.914 --> 00:18:10.928
You could find the D&D moments in this sort of area.

00:18:10.928 --> 00:18:24.289
It's really really good for the fans, make a good drinking game, yeah, and even the moment where Vax is throwing the dagger and he has that returning dagger, a classic sort of weapon that is symbolic of Vax.

00:18:24.289 --> 00:18:29.324
But he also, if you look closely, you can see him wearing the green belt that he wears early on in the campaign.

00:18:29.324 --> 00:18:34.644
That's sort of shaped like the snake yeah, because you know that's Simon his pet snake from the show.

00:18:35.795 --> 00:18:37.902
Yeah, which he uses in the third episode.

00:18:38.503 --> 00:18:44.199
Yeah, yeah, yeah, she uh uses in the third episode.

00:18:44.199 --> 00:18:44.599
Yeah, yeah, uh.

00:18:44.599 --> 00:18:47.768
Did you know that the uh the bartender was actually a kickstarter created character character.

00:18:48.128 --> 00:18:48.509
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:18:48.509 --> 00:19:06.663
So sam liam and travis made made that character with, you know, the kickstarter backers, and it was voiced as well by by mason alexander park, and you know that's a really great sort of fan service and something that this, this crew of critical role, is known for is, you know, they love their critters, they involve them wherever they can, and this is just another nod to that.

00:19:06.663 --> 00:19:12.403
So I really loved the addition of that sort of minotaur like character with the pink hair behind the bar.

00:19:12.403 --> 00:19:15.439
That was obviously created by the kickstarter backers I love how.

00:19:15.499 --> 00:19:32.163
I love how she's, and I wish they'd make more of these kind of characters like actual characters in like D&D itself, like the shape-shifting characters yeah, so like there's even in now campaign 3, you've got Travis playing that werewolf character that pretty much Matt builds because there is no real.

00:19:32.163 --> 00:19:35.107
Like you've got the shifters but then nothing.

00:19:35.107 --> 00:19:39.450
That really is like okay, I'm going from a human transforming into a werewolf.

00:19:39.450 --> 00:19:41.056
Yeah, yeah, really like that.

00:19:41.056 --> 00:19:45.461
There's like ones where you grow a bit more facial hair and grow some teeth and you get some sharp claws and that's about it.

00:19:45.481 --> 00:19:53.755
You get a bit more animalistic, but yeah unless you're going down the druid route and actually you know wild shaping yeah there's nothing, nothing other than that.

00:19:53.755 --> 00:19:54.678
So yeah, I really like that.

00:19:54.698 --> 00:19:55.922
They sort of added the creative.

00:19:55.922 --> 00:19:57.185
She just seemed like a like.

00:19:57.185 --> 00:20:00.140
She had like the purple skin saying that she probably wasn't entirely human.

00:20:00.140 --> 00:20:11.340
But she like walked up and then just turned into this minotaur and I'm like, so it's sort of like she's turned into like a werebull or something like that yeah, it's a really cool addition and showing how creative they are as well.

00:20:11.361 --> 00:20:14.276
You know we we then go outside of the bar, they're obviously kicked out.

00:20:14.276 --> 00:20:14.777
They say that.

00:20:14.777 --> 00:20:17.041
You know, they've been kicked out of every single bar in amman and scan.

00:20:17.041 --> 00:20:30.005
Scanlan puts his loot into the Bag of Holding, which is another great D&D sort of reference, a Bag of Holding being a bag that holds literally anything that you can carry, which beats the encumbrance math for all those D&D players out there, which we absolutely love, because encumbrance rules are rubbish.

00:20:30.005 --> 00:20:33.820
And then, as Scanlan needs to go and relieve himself, we see a very special NPC.

00:20:34.375 --> 00:20:50.326
So in just about every episode you'll see a character that very distinctly reminds you of a certain DM of a very famous D&D show, critical Role, and he always seems to have his head pop in here and there.

00:20:50.326 --> 00:20:58.295
But you'll see a guard posting up the sign, looking for adventurers to track down some vicious creature that's been destroying farmland.

00:20:58.515 --> 00:21:16.101
And while Scanlan's relieving himself, nurses this, turns and pees on said Matt Mercer's foot yeah, you know, which I think is an allegory for all the times that Sam Regal, as a player, has actually, you know, wrecked Matt's plans in the most comical and also, you know, really brilliant of ways.

00:21:16.501 --> 00:21:19.839
But yeah, I think it's, it's awesome to see Matt's likeness in the show.

00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:26.644
You know, being the creator of the whole entire universe and actually seeing him amongst the characters of voxmark, and it was really heartwarming to me as well.

00:21:26.644 --> 00:21:28.875
But, yeah, I you know you do see him in quite a few episodes.

00:21:28.875 --> 00:21:35.840
So if you're watching this for the first time or you hadn't noticed that before, definitely go and do a rewatch and see how many times you can spot matt mercer throughout the the episodes.

00:21:35.840 --> 00:21:46.555
Another thing I like to do as well is matt obviously voices xyz of the characters on each of the episodes, so I like to try and pick out his voice as they sort of go through um as well.

00:21:46.555 --> 00:21:52.983
One of the the characters he actually did voice was agar, the voice of the orc which had his hand cut off in the aforementioned bar scene.

00:21:53.385 --> 00:22:08.083
Uh, so he does have quite a few roles in each of the episodes, so keep your ears up for that too they make make their way to the council, where they are currently discussing where all the mercenaries have gone, where the murder hobos have been murdered.

00:22:08.134 --> 00:22:15.121
Yeah, they go through a plethora of all the different mercenaries that have been destroyed by this unknown force as they approach the keep as well.

00:22:15.121 --> 00:22:20.913
You can see the critical roll symbol on the door of the keep to Iman with the D20 with the sword plunging on the door of the, the keep to iman with the.

00:22:20.913 --> 00:22:22.530
You know the d20 with the sword plunging through the middle of it.

00:22:22.530 --> 00:22:25.616
And then, you know, as they get there, everybody gets to pass through.

00:22:25.616 --> 00:22:27.982
They notice, the guards themselves notice that.

00:22:27.982 --> 00:22:30.217
You know, vox machina smells like absolute garbage.

00:22:30.217 --> 00:22:32.821
And then, uh, trinket gets left behind.

00:22:32.821 --> 00:22:39.326
Yeah, uh, obviously a continuing theme throughout the campaign of the, the dnd table as well.

00:22:39.326 --> 00:22:42.559
When you have a big bulky bear, obviously he's not allowed in some places.

00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:50.137
So Laura had to come up with some creative ways as to how to get him into places and how to maneuver him through situations, laura being Vex the owner of Trinket as well.

00:22:50.479 --> 00:22:52.788
And I do like how, even in this.

00:22:52.788 --> 00:23:03.147
Scanlan is not the biggest Trinket fan, I'd like to say, Because in the live show he tried to get Trinket killed on many occasions.

00:23:03.275 --> 00:23:12.912
Yeah, he's Trinket's biggest hater and he kind of gives off vibes like the dad that doesn't want the dog yeah, but he actually does not want the dog no he doesn't?

00:23:12.912 --> 00:23:13.474
It's very funny.

00:23:13.474 --> 00:23:25.656
It's very funny to look at and see all the different ways that he tries to mess with Vexen and Scanlan breaks, ways that he tries to mess with with vex and scanlon breaks into song as he introduces the, the cast of vox machina basically, and you know this is something that sam did quite regularly on the show.

00:23:25.777 --> 00:23:26.538
I don't know how he does it.

00:23:26.538 --> 00:23:48.007
He's very good at improv, especially improv songs, and in the live action he'd actually take popular songs or well-known songs and just make up his own lyrics to go with those songs a lot but in this he does like a more regal bubbly song to really heighten up and talk up his group.

00:23:48.468 --> 00:24:04.336
And then he gets to him like he starts talking about each of characters grog, how he's all strong, uh, pike with a faith that can heal anything, the twins, how they can throw daggers and how they can never miss and they'd kill anything, and Percy with his pepper box it'll blow your head off.

00:24:04.336 --> 00:24:20.862
And then, of course, he gets to himself at the end, where he then breaks into a rap and goes a little bit too far, too far until he's pulled up by I think it is Uriel who pulls him up by a guy and then he goes back into the finish off the song.

00:24:20.862 --> 00:24:24.903
That's one of my favorite things is Sam's.

00:24:24.903 --> 00:24:33.115
Well, when he was a bard, his songs, but also how it then turned into him doing all the sponsor ads at the start of the show.

00:24:33.134 --> 00:24:37.515
Yeah, so it's probably like some of the best marketing you could buy on Twitch really Easy.

00:24:37.535 --> 00:24:39.522
Because, yeah, everybody's waiting to watch this show.

00:24:39.522 --> 00:24:52.142
It's watched by so many people and you know his creative brilliance just sort of takes this campaign and sings it through as either the bard scanlon would or, you know, as sam would, as the as the campaign progressed and, um, he was no longer playing scanlon.

00:24:52.142 --> 00:24:53.265
But back to the episode.

00:24:53.265 --> 00:25:09.426
Yes, we, we get the first sort of glimpse here at vex who expresses one of her rangers abilities, and it's kind of the first little indication that you know something's not quite right in this sort of scene and it's the very first sort of triggering event that shows um, shows that there's something wrong.

00:25:09.426 --> 00:25:10.816
So this is a ranger ability.

00:25:10.976 --> 00:25:18.384
Yes, so as a ranger you get a favored enemy and because of her backstory her favorite enemy is dragons.

00:25:18.384 --> 00:25:41.884
So she does not like dragons, um, so she studied them in her ranger studies sort of deal so that now she can sort of get sort of like a spidey sense of when, like she can get a sense of when the enemy's nearby or sort of like an inkling of it, and she sort of you sort of see that in the episode.

00:25:41.884 --> 00:25:50.804
You might think she's got a headache because she's so drunk, but it's actually because in that room somewhere someone has been either near.

00:25:50.804 --> 00:25:58.061
But I do like how it doesn't pinpoint, because the actual ability doesn't pinpoint, it just says there's something in that direction.

00:25:58.082 --> 00:25:58.804
You know the presence.

00:25:58.804 --> 00:26:00.516
Yeah, yeah, the presence is in that direction.

00:26:00.516 --> 00:26:00.974
You know the presence?

00:26:00.974 --> 00:26:02.400
Yeah, yeah, the presence is in that area, in that direction.

00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:06.675
So she's looking at these people and she's like, ah, something doesn't feel right.

00:26:07.136 --> 00:26:14.199
Yeah, and they really set the um the scene, as sir finn's being the one who is drawing that ire.

00:26:14.199 --> 00:26:21.327
But you know, as we watch on, obviously we find out that it's uh, it's it's general krieg, who is in fact, uh, rimside.

00:26:21.327 --> 00:26:40.064
So after they're in this hall and they they take some time to convince, you know, the sovereign and the council to to give them a chance on this sort of journey, uh, they end up doing so and they take an airship all the way across to the shale steps I believe it's called and then they start their real journey to find out what is occurring and why all these people are dying.

00:26:40.064 --> 00:26:53.479
But we talked a little bit off air as well about how, on the airship, scanlan actually goes and has a little bit of a chat to, to Vex and Vax, who always seem to whisper, and that was reminiscent of Liam and Laura's character as well at the table of Critical Role, where they'd always try to sort of whisper and have little private conversations.

00:26:53.778 --> 00:26:57.905
Scanlan walks up and pretty much just says why are you guys whispering?

00:26:57.905 --> 00:27:08.520
We can all hear you, and I've sort of a nod as at usually they're around the table and they can't really whisper to each other because they're right next to each other on the table and everyone can hear them.

00:27:08.520 --> 00:27:18.859
So I thought that was a pretty, um, pretty nice little nod to the fact that, yeah, it still makes it seem like they're all just sitting around the table playing a game yeah, no, I like that too.

00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:29.559
and then you know they land and they start to go on their trek and we see uh keyleth, you know, talking to the plants in the village as we go through, which is another dnd spell which she commonly does as well, because she's very awkward with people.

00:27:29.740 --> 00:27:44.752
And then we see vax interact with this kid and this is one of my sort of favorite moments because I kind of reminds me of of how how vax or liam's character would would go and interact with the character of Kynan later on in campaign one, which is the small boy who tried to join Vox Machina in the Twitch campaign.

00:27:45.314 --> 00:28:02.109
In the cartoon here in the Legend of Vox Machina it's obviously a different boy, but he kind of gives that kid a silver coin and he says you know this is going to help you fight monsters and I love this part because you know silver is such a very big vulnerability for lots of monsters in the D&D player's handbook and that was like a little nod to that sort of thing as well.

00:28:02.109 --> 00:28:03.540
You know he's trying to keep these people safe.

00:28:03.540 --> 00:28:08.567
So it's a nod to both the Twitch campaign and the D&D lore, which was awesome to see.

00:28:08.567 --> 00:28:16.857
And you know they go on through this sort of moment as they're making their way through the village and they still haven't really found that uniting factor that sort of brings them all together.

00:28:16.857 --> 00:28:22.803
And then, as they venture off after this, they sort of get to that moment where they realize, you know, we actually have to do this together.

00:28:23.604 --> 00:28:28.867
I will just say too the father, the father of the children.

00:28:28.867 --> 00:28:33.192
He was voiced by Matt as well, that's another, matt yep.

00:28:33.192 --> 00:28:38.736
Another Matt, and the girl and boy were actually Sam and Liam's daughter and son, my gosh.

00:28:38.756 --> 00:28:42.205
that makes it so much worse as to what happens later on in the episode.

00:28:42.205 --> 00:28:49.984
We start to see, as they exit this village as well, a little bit of a romance sort of developing between Vax and Keyleth's character.

00:28:49.984 --> 00:28:52.143
That's an ongoing theme through Campaign 1 as well.

00:28:52.403 --> 00:28:52.926
Yeah, yeah.

00:28:52.926 --> 00:29:08.001
So you see that with actually a lot of the characters too, but in the actual live action it did take a lot longer for them to sort of connect.

00:29:08.001 --> 00:29:11.010
But I think because of the fact that the show has to be so squashed.

00:29:11.010 --> 00:29:14.079
In a way they had to sort of they sort of had to like bring it forward.

00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:22.005
So, because they don't actually restart, get together until I think it's roughly around when keyless decides that she wants to be a golden god and jumps off a cliff and dies.

00:29:22.105 --> 00:29:24.916
Yeah, yeah yeah, that kind of brings it to it, doesn't it?

00:29:24.978 --> 00:29:53.111
it's like a hundred or so, maybe even more, a hundred or so episodes in but yeah, they definitely fast track it and they lay the pebbles for that early on in this sort of early they're doing for a lot of them, which I think which is good because, like um, real, because realistically they didn't know how many seasons they were going to get Exactly they didn't know how many episodes they were going to get, because they initially appealed for a 20-minute or a 40-minute special or something like that, which would have been these first two episodes, not knowing what was to come, obviously.

00:29:53.214 --> 00:29:56.999
But yeah, I agree, I think they had to really sort of squash all the little things in that they could.

00:29:56.999 --> 00:30:25.964
But, that being said, it really sort of didn't feel rushed, as you know, as as it could have, knowing how much content they could be, you know, and if you're coming in blind to this and you don't know the critical role, uh twitch show, it really just flows like a regular sort of cartoon yeah, and I think that's hats off to um, like the whole entire cast, because they all came in and they all, and especially Matt in that, like going through the story, saying, alright, yes, we can keep this, no, we can cut that, we can keep this, we can cut that.

00:30:26.184 --> 00:30:37.903
And I reckon, like for them, I reckon it would be so hard for them to cut certain things absolutely like, if they could, they'd do a whole 400 hours content as they really could.

00:30:37.903 --> 00:30:39.463
But yeah was content as they really could.

00:30:39.483 --> 00:31:05.846
But yeah, unfortunately that's gonna be a lot of money and, yeah, a lot of episodes, time too, yeah yeah, but then we we sort of get a few more dnd sort of references through this area where they're sort of tracking through the forest and obviously exploration is one of the three key pillars of any dungeons and dragons game and the ranger really shines through in these moments as well, and we see vex leading the party through the terrain and she's doing the tracking, which is an indication that she's made a survival check, which is when you roll your d20 and you check it against your survival skill.

00:31:05.846 --> 00:31:12.726
She then senses her dragon again during, uh, using her sort of primeval awareness and using her favorite enemy as well.

00:31:12.726 --> 00:31:20.386
And then you know, you get that classic scene in all monster movies where that massive foot just smashes something and leaving it in a bloody mess and battle ensues.

00:31:20.386 --> 00:31:25.076
Or, as you say, in dungeons and dragons, roll initiative and during the fight scenes.

00:31:25.115 --> 00:31:37.721
I think is where we see most of the dnd mechanics come into play and I think they do a really good job of portraying them, but not rigidly sticking to them, obviously, because we all know that sometimes dungeons and dragons combat can get a little bit clunky.

00:31:37.721 --> 00:31:38.943
So we do get things.

00:31:38.943 --> 00:31:42.941
Like you know, vax always throws his three daggers, which is his catchphrase.

00:31:42.941 --> 00:31:55.462
He always throws three daggers and he says dagger, dagger, dagger every time, and then you know they're fighting the the blue dragon as well, I believe one of the abilities for a dragon is its frightful presence.

00:31:56.017 --> 00:32:09.003
Yeah, and I think, from how it seemed, keyleth might have failed her, I'm assuming a wisdom check, wisdom check, yeah, and got too scared to do anything.

00:32:09.003 --> 00:32:18.473
So she's been very much with the whole flight, just squatted down, just terrified yeah, which is, you know, one of the abilities of the dragon.

00:32:18.493 --> 00:32:22.545
You know, to keep everybody frightened, which is a condition you can have where you literally can't do anything.

00:32:22.545 --> 00:32:24.401
You can't move closer to the, to the creature.

00:32:24.401 --> 00:32:25.688
Everything you do is with disadvantage.

00:32:26.069 --> 00:32:31.946
You're absolutely stuffed yeah, and so the only thing you can do is move away from the target you're fearful of.

00:32:31.946 --> 00:32:35.326
If you want to move anyway, he does his lightning breath, which he uses.

00:32:35.326 --> 00:32:39.560
Usually he'd use lightning breath, and then you have to roll a d6 and hopefully get it back.

00:32:39.961 --> 00:32:46.818
If not, he was getting them back quite often he was, I was, and just with his claws, tactoon bites, everything like that.

00:32:46.818 --> 00:32:55.272
But you see, grog, he gets taken out almost immediately, which is, I believe, actually what happened in the live game.

00:32:55.272 --> 00:32:58.821
They were saying he actually didn't get taken out almost immediately.

00:32:58.821 --> 00:33:02.229
He ran in that, he charged in their full force but taken out absolutely immediately.

00:33:02.229 --> 00:33:04.273
And that's where I think sam's character.

00:33:04.273 --> 00:33:16.945
He was like, oh great, grog's down already and then he goes behind a um, a log um, and you see pike again using her shield of faith to guard her and scanlon from the uh lightning breath.

00:33:16.945 --> 00:33:21.775
But uh, yeah, definitely a um, definitely a strong foe to be them, to be facing.

00:33:21.775 --> 00:33:24.104
I think they were only roughly like maybe level eight.

00:33:24.104 --> 00:33:35.575
Yeah, I think at the time there's definitely a, definitely a um, tough on the wind, and yeah, yeah, I think the most interesting part for that one for me.

00:33:35.635 --> 00:33:39.758
Obviously you mentioned the lightning breath and we were talking um vulnerabilities and immunities before as well.

00:33:39.758 --> 00:33:47.564
But blue dragons are traditionally lightning users and therefore when you use lightning against them, sometimes that lightning doesn't really do much to that dragon.

00:33:47.564 --> 00:33:54.741
And that's also reminiscent of that D&D mechanic as well that they've inserted into the show without explicitly sort of saying you know they're immune, yeah, yeah.

00:33:56.515 --> 00:34:05.049
And then, yeah, after they're almost TPK, Keyleth manages to save them by building a bind dome.

00:34:05.335 --> 00:34:08.541
I don't know if that's a natural spell, but she does it and ends up saving them.

00:34:08.541 --> 00:34:18.088
One thing I did notice is you'll see, when Brimside looks into the rubble, you'll see a hand, and that's the hand of the orc.

00:34:18.088 --> 00:34:22.034
They cut off, they cut off, yeah, off in the bar fight.

00:34:22.034 --> 00:34:32.063
But another thing is you're always, especially in season one and some, and actually probably in all seasons, really all campaigns they always have body parts, yeah in their bag of holding.

00:34:32.063 --> 00:34:33.574
They always have body parts in their bag of holding.

00:34:33.896 --> 00:34:38.137
Yeah, this will come up again when we talk about episode two, I'm sure because there's an easter egg about that.

00:34:38.137 --> 00:34:41.123
But yeah, you're absolutely right, they always have.

00:34:41.164 --> 00:35:05.882
So like, yeah, you see the hand there like this discovered hand, and he's like, oh cool, I've killed him and he flies off and obviously would have kept that yeah oh, come back down again and yeah he's yeah, he's obviously after the battle and grogs more damage than everybody else, and I like to believe that this is sort of a call back to how goliaths can take extra damage when they rage, obviously taking half damage from any sort of physical sort of attack.

00:35:05.882 --> 00:35:33.061
But he's sort of standing there, obviously bleeding out, and then pike uses that cure wounds spell which really goes and bites them later on when they exhibit one of the most important rules for spell casters in dungeons and dragons and they show it in episode one of the legend of vox machina and they wander off and head back towards the village where they see that Brinsyth not only messed them up but also went back and doubled back and destroyed the little village that they were visiting the Shale's steps is now demolished.

00:35:33.081 --> 00:35:45.333
Yep, and straight away Vex runs off ahead of the group, which he actually did a lot in line action too he always run off into heaps of trouble yeah, um, but he runs off.

00:35:45.353 --> 00:35:45.735
That's rule.

00:35:45.735 --> 00:35:47.440
That's rule number one of dnd, isn't it?

00:35:47.460 --> 00:36:02.047
you'd never go off alone don't split the party he runs off to the house where the kids lives to see if they had made it and unfortunately the father, the mother and the daughter were crisp on the floor.

00:36:02.577 --> 00:36:03.219
That's a good way to put it.

00:36:03.514 --> 00:36:07.483
Of the little hut and the rest join and it's a bit somber.

00:36:07.483 --> 00:36:18.869
And then they hear a coughing in the cupboard and Vex and Grog move a beam out of the way and pull out the little boy who is barely hanging on.

00:36:18.869 --> 00:36:25.976
Pike goes to heal him and unfortunately she has run out of spell slots and therefore cannot heal him.

00:36:25.976 --> 00:36:36.065
As she stated earlier that the healing of Grog really took it out of her, and then that showed here where she had no energy left to heal the boy.

00:36:36.786 --> 00:36:37.768
Yeah, she was too exhausted.

00:36:37.768 --> 00:36:44.856
I think that's a really good way to uh express the fact that you're out of spell slots when you're in a role play moment as well, and they do it really well in their show.

00:36:44.856 --> 00:36:47.824
You know I'm too exhausted to do this right now or there's nothing I can do.

00:36:47.824 --> 00:36:49.559
My energy's not working that kind of thing.

00:36:49.559 --> 00:37:02.271
Because yeah, uh, that's one of the biggest problems that spell casters have is that resource management of their spells is probably one of the more exciting things about being a spellcaster, as well as like strategically using those slots to do what you need to do.

00:37:02.833 --> 00:37:18.996
And obviously you know there are things that happen in the dungeons and dragons campaign that you can't foresee, and sometimes it gets to the point where you know you've made one choice to save your party member being grog, but on the other hand, you do lose that sort of that innocent uh member of the community of the shale steps as a as a consequence.

00:37:18.996 --> 00:37:40.704
So that sort of give and take is really common in the critical role campaigns as well, because matt's really really good at sort of offering these guys and the players some some moments to sort of cherish and some moments where they can use their abilities really well, but then, on the other hand, he really presents them with some really tough choices, on occasion too yeah, and I do like it because whenever those moments happen, it's always tough on Matt as well.

00:37:42.856 --> 00:37:52.403
That's another reason why I believe he's such a good DM, because, even though he will completely wipe out the party, he doesn't take joy in it.

00:37:53.014 --> 00:37:57.246
Yeah, and he doesn't sit out too as well, which I think is a status quo.

00:37:57.246 --> 00:38:04.326
That I think gets a little bit muddled at some D&D tables as well, because there's one person that's sitting behind the screen and throwing all these monsters at you.

00:38:04.326 --> 00:38:18.166
Sometimes it feels like your D&D party is against that guy, but everybody that plays Dungeons Dragons has to remember that that guy, the DM, has put a lot of work into this game and really they just want to see you guys have fun and, as a result, you know they can have some fun too, because we're all there playing a game.

00:38:18.226 --> 00:38:24.949
but yeah, I do think that matters as well yeah, exactly yeah, um, so, yeah.

00:38:24.949 --> 00:38:39.563
So there are a whole lot of heartbreaking moments in kooka roll, which is always good to see, and a lot of them, a lot of them even matt doesn't even do this the actual characters, because the players themselves do it to themselves yeah, which I completely invested too.

00:38:39.864 --> 00:38:40.284
It's great.

00:38:40.505 --> 00:38:47.213
That's the thing, and they sort of create their own sort of little dramas inside of Matt's world and Matt's just sitting there going yes, this is it.

00:38:47.253 --> 00:39:04.981
Yeah, I think the best moments of Critical Role that I've watched is the times when Matt has been silent for like 25 to 30 minutes and the players are either going off on their own or talking with one another or doing character dialogue or going through an arc and you know, that sort of character-driven game is really, really great.

00:39:04.981 --> 00:39:31.699
Yeah, all right, we'll move on to episode two, because the credits close there and we open to the second episode, which is obviously called the Terror of Tal'Dorei, part Two, and we open up to General Krieg addressing his men, and this is where the amazing Felicia Day guest stars as a captain and you know he says something along the lines of a storm is coming tonight and that's really sort of ironic, considering you know he is the storm that is going to be coming.

00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:42.800
Greatest moments in this episode early on is when they're readdressing the Council of Tal'Dorei and they go in and they say the enemy is nothing more than a blue dragon and they're like we know.

00:39:42.800 --> 00:39:49.876
And then, you know, they go outside and they end up talking about who said what and they're flinging all these names around and Grog in the end is just like I didn't get anybody's name.

00:39:49.876 --> 00:40:02.889
I think that's a really common D&D player trope as well, and you know for DMs as well, but for players especially, you know there's so many times you're around the table and you're just like you know that guy, the one with the scars, and nobody ever knows the character's actual name.

00:40:02.889 --> 00:40:05.271
So that's a really common thing that they threw in there for the players as well.

00:40:05.271 --> 00:40:05.771
That I loved.

00:40:05.771 --> 00:40:07.701
That was really great early on in the episode.

00:40:07.961 --> 00:40:17.887
Yeah, and then they, because they've invested, now with the death of the child, they're all motivated to be like no, we're going to kill this dragon, even if it kills us.

00:40:17.887 --> 00:40:21.391
And they're seemingly being dismissed by the council.

00:40:21.391 --> 00:40:22.942
So they're like screw it, we'll do it ourselves.

00:40:22.942 --> 00:40:28.097
So they split up one group, which generally you should never really do, split the party.

00:40:28.097 --> 00:40:30.199
But they split the party In three.

00:40:30.199 --> 00:40:39.726
Yeah, they split Vax and Pike to go to see Gilmore, while Scanlan and Grog go off to.

00:40:39.746 --> 00:40:45.356
We'll talk about scanlon and grog's little escapade first, and then we'll jump into the gilmore shop because I think there's a little bit to dissect there.

00:40:45.356 --> 00:40:46.840
There is a bit, yeah.

00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:58.039
So when we're talking about, uh, grog and scanlon, that's a pairing that happens all the time in the critical role, twitch, uh broadcast, and it's usually, for you know, comical or funny sort of results.

00:40:58.039 --> 00:41:08.800
I know that when, when they're doing the team-ups and you hear them sort of divvying at the missions and they say Grog and Scanlan, you go and do this and you just see Sam and Travis just look at each other, grin and you're like, okay, shit's happening here.

00:41:08.820 --> 00:41:09.463
The boys are together.

00:41:09.463 --> 00:41:26.675
Yeah, and you know, as it showed in the show, very, very quickly they always kind of get up to no good and then the rest of it happens yeah they end up just sitting down in the middle of square, pretty much giving up on finding him at all, and instead sken's like do you know where he's gonna be?

00:41:27.117 --> 00:41:43.411
he's gonna be at a brothel, yeah very common for those two to go and seek out the ladies of the night and I like how, also that this again shows, uh, this sort of hate relationship that vex and scanlon have towards sort of each other.

00:41:43.411 --> 00:41:48.951
Because grog's like, oh, no, um, uh, vex will get it, uh, get up us if we don't do what she says, blah, blah.

00:41:48.951 --> 00:41:53.201
And scanlon's like, oh, no, no, it's fine, I'm the brains of this group anyway, yeah.

00:41:53.201 --> 00:41:55.704
And then, um, grog's like, oh, but vex said you had dicks for brains.

00:41:55.704 --> 00:41:56.563
Oh, I don't know how, it's fine, I'm the brains of this group anyway.

00:41:56.563 --> 00:41:57.373
And then Grog's like, oh, but Vex said you had Dixville brains.

00:41:59.039 --> 00:42:12.800
I don't know how it's possible it seems impossible to me so you can see the sort of hate relationship between Scarlet and Vex in that moment too but, in that moment they happen to spot the thing that is.

00:42:13.050 --> 00:42:14.456
Cripple spotless in the crypt board.

00:42:14.456 --> 00:42:20.795
Yeah, I really like that part too, because I think in that scene it actually showed another really awesome D&D mechanic as well, which is the stealth check.

00:42:20.795 --> 00:42:27.161
Okay, and sometimes the stealth checks in the Critical Role campaign were absolutely ridiculous because you know Matt would say where are you hiding?

00:42:27.161 --> 00:42:36.222
They'd describe their hide and it would be as ridiculous as I'm drinking.

00:42:36.764 --> 00:42:45.297
Or you know, as they had to make a second one because they've they've made the noise, it would be as as ridiculous as I will roll behind a carton or a or a pile of crates and hope not to be seen.

00:42:45.336 --> 00:43:13.159
And you know that that that timing of that animation is really really great addition as a dnd mechanic in the show as well and they must have passed the stealth check the whole way, following him too, because they ended up following him to a mansion yep, and spying with uh scanlon on grog's shoulders and the perception check that they must have done to see you know that he had the knife and he he looked through and he walked through the door must have failed.

00:43:13.159 --> 00:43:21.222
The perception check that they must have done to see you know that he had the knife and he looked through and he walked through the door Must have failed the perception check, though, when he actually went and bumped his head on the sign as they went past as well.

00:43:21.222 --> 00:43:23.918
But perception checks are a very common sort of staple of D&D also.

00:43:24.429 --> 00:43:33.496
But then he must have failed his perception check when he didn't notice them, when he yelled out fuck after hitting his head yeah that's true, that is true.

00:43:33.597 --> 00:43:35.099
Yeah, sometimes you hitting his head yeah, that's true, that is true.

00:43:35.099 --> 00:43:41.885
Yeah, sometimes you don't think of it in terms of the antagonists of a show, but, yeah, obviously, in a dungeons and dragons game, all of the things that those characters are doing are rolled for as well.

00:43:41.885 --> 00:43:47.809
So, yeah, he would have failed his perception check to see them, which is which is awesome to see, you know, that sort of playing out on the cartoon screen.

00:43:47.809 --> 00:43:55.400
Let's jump back now to gilmore's glorious goods, a fan favorite character and probably matt merce's favorite np, at least of campaign one.

00:43:55.880 --> 00:43:59.224
We meet Gilmore for the first time, who is a very verbose sort of character.

00:43:59.304 --> 00:44:06.635
He's very flirtatious as well, he's in your face, he's extremely powerful and magical and he has lots of secrets to share.

00:44:06.635 --> 00:44:13.181
Obviously, as they walk into this magic filled shop, we can already see that Vax and Gilmore have a little bit of history.

00:44:13.181 --> 00:44:16.521
I thought this was really well done and really well sort of told through the fact that, after some conversing, you actually saw Gilmore have a little bit of history.

00:44:16.521 --> 00:44:30.181
I thought this was really well done and really well sort of told through the fact that, after some conversing, you actually saw Gilmore do the coin trick that Vax was doing in the episode earlier with the coin across his knuckles, showing that, you know, they've either taught each other that or they learned it together, or it's something that they have in common at the very least.

00:44:30.181 --> 00:44:39.059
And that sort of connection to the character sort of subconsciously joins you with that pair, and sort of connection to the character sort of subconsciously joins you with that pair.

00:44:39.059 --> 00:44:42.250
And there was, you know, some chemistry in the uh the twitch campaign between those two characters as well.

00:44:42.269 --> 00:44:47.621
Yeah, um and I do actually highly recommend and they're pretty, they're reasonably priced.

00:44:47.621 --> 00:44:53.762
Um, if anyone's interested in reading the comics, the um critic roll has the comics out.

00:44:53.762 --> 00:44:59.815
That shows what happened, like how they all met that's so good yeah yeah, so I've got, I've got them all and I've read through them all.

00:45:00.077 --> 00:45:20.445
Um, and yeah, they're really, they're really good and um we'll put those comics in the in the show notes below, at least the names of them, so people can go and look them up if they want seen the campaign too yeah.

00:45:20.445 --> 00:45:22.327
Easter eggs, easter eggs, this is coming early.

00:45:22.869 --> 00:45:29.159
So when Pike's gone through, she'll see there's like a little red ferret in the background there.

00:45:29.159 --> 00:45:33.346
Which sort of hints towards Jester's, what's it called?

00:45:33.346 --> 00:45:35.692
It's called like an ember ferret Companion.

00:45:35.692 --> 00:45:36.614
Yeah, a red weasel.

00:45:36.614 --> 00:45:43.889
Red weasel, yeah, yeah, um, her red weasel, um, what was his name, ends up being Artagan.

00:45:43.889 --> 00:45:49.302
Yeah, yeah, um, but they always joke about how it was.

00:45:49.302 --> 00:45:49.903
It was always.

00:45:50.085 --> 00:46:07.755
It's been dead the whole entire time yeah, yeah, because of the amount of damage and because it's always around her neck, it would take damage like in explosions and shit like it should have been dead like 25 times over yeah but then Pike goes past in a book.

00:46:07.755 --> 00:46:16.878
He's operating all these items in the store and he operates a book called Tusk Love, which is another, which is a book that Jester has in Campaign 2 that she reads.

00:46:16.878 --> 00:46:21.568
It's about a tiefling woman and a half-orc man.

00:46:21.771 --> 00:46:27.498
And very familiar from Jester and Ford who are the characters of Laura and Travis in Campaign 2.

00:46:27.498 --> 00:46:36.135
That sort of fictional book is like the cornerstone of their love story in that campaign and it features here in the episode of Lock, smuck and Up.

00:46:36.811 --> 00:46:38.175
It's a bit of a smutty book.

00:46:38.175 --> 00:46:41.938
Yes, so that was really good.

00:46:41.938 --> 00:46:47.974
Now, one thing I've been trying to find out because it's there and I want to know if it actually is something, but I haven't been able to find anything else on it.

00:46:47.974 --> 00:46:48.617
I can't remember.

00:46:48.617 --> 00:46:50.476
There's so many episodes.

00:46:56.630 --> 00:46:58.152
I'm trying to remember, but there's like just that sandal that's in a jar.

00:46:58.152 --> 00:46:59.545
Yes, they, they focused in on that sandal specifically.

00:46:59.545 --> 00:47:00.025
I can't see anything about it either.

00:47:00.025 --> 00:47:04.130

Critical Role's Spellbinding Saga, Exploring the D&D Inspiration Behind "The Legend of Vox Machina" with Adam Brasher

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