Critical Role - Rose City Comic Con 2023

Episode Date: September 29, 2023

Our friends at Rose City Comic Con were able to record our Critical Role panel at their convention this year! We are so appreciative of their help and excited to share this audio with you all via podcast.Moderated by Christian Navarro, listen to Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Matthew Mercer, Liam O'Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham as they discuss everything going on in Critical Role Land with a fireside chat and short Q&A.

Hey everybody, Liam here. Happy to be bringing you the audio recording of our panel at Rose City Comic Con from this past week. We want to thank our friend Christian Navarro for hosting the panel, and all the Critters who came out to Portland to see us. Enjoy. Alright, alright, alright. Woo! Woo! You're gonna get a big one of those on the count of three. One, two, three. Woo! Woo! Woo! You're going to get a big one of those. On the count of three. One, two, three.

Woo! That was Ric Flair-esque. I loved it. Alright, we got some questions here for the people of the hour. Matt, we're going to start with you, buddy. Oh, no. There's been a lot of debate about the gods of Exandria, as well as the state of the world. You know, a simple softball one to start with.

Yeah, let's start with religion. Okay, go ahead. Maybe we need a coffee and a cigarette first. I know, right? How's it been encouraging your players to play in that world? Deconstruct it, question it, everything you've created, how's that been? It's been really fun and exciting and terrifying. I'm used to choosing the points in the story that feel right to destroy the things I've

created. It's interesting to now start putting the tools in their hands. So that's exciting. And just like, I don't know, after two campaigns of playing with themes of, you know, unhealthy societal constructs and finding your way through faith or through friendship to now start questioning facets of that sort of authority and see what is good in the world, what isn't, what's necessary, and what part you take in that kind of future of your space. So I'm excited to see where it goes. I'm excited to see what they do with it. And I'm terrified. That was like, you know, maybe a hard question.

He knocked it out of the park, right? First question, man. If we ever make it past the Divine Gate, I'd like to think we're just going to find Matt making word docs in space. What? Uh oh. This is a question for everybody.

Now that you guys have visited every known continent of Exandria, that's kinda crazy, which one is your favorite? Every known continent. Every known. Yes. It feels like we've spent the most time on Wildemount, but we were so fast to the most recently discovered continent of the Shattered Teeth that I feel like I want to say ma'u.

Sorry. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Wild Mom's my favorite thing. Wild Mom. Any other favorites? I'm going to shout out Marquette just because it's got all kinds of crazy stuff.

There's pod races, sort of. It's great. I love it there. But yeah, Shattered Teeth was pretty wild, and I can't wait to go back. I feel like there was so much on Tal'Dorei that we didn't go to. Yeah, there's a bunch on Wild Mount you guys didn't go to.

The good news is a lot of these people have, which is fun. That's so exciting. You know things we don't. Is Isocross its own continent, or is that part of... Technically, it's part of Wildemount, or it's considered part of it. It's kind of the same collection of land masses,

but it's also its own thing. You're thinking of Isilra. Oh. No, no, I'm thinking... The tourist capital of Exandria. I know what Isocross and Isilra are. I want to know what's on the bottom of the flat disk. There's probably all these other...

No! Stop it. Stop it. If you sail long enough, the boat just goes... Ew. Why do you hate science? I'm going to reserve my opinion until we've gotten onto

technically what I think is the last lamb mass which is the one up in the sky although Shatterteeth is pretty cool I'm sure that'll go well I worked so hard to spoil the flat earth thing for Mr. Regal and I failed sorry this is for Laura and Marisha the flat earth thing for Mr. Eagle. I failed. I'm sorry.

This is for Laura and Marisha. Oh. Oh. Oh. So, has anything changed about how you guys play your respective characters now that you're in an official relationship? Yeah, let's hear it for Laudna and Imogen. You're so far away from me, baby.

I know. I miss you. I don't know if it's changed. I don't think so. Ladna was already so protective of Imogen. Same. Maybe we just kind of doubled down on it even more, but, you know, guys, it's just like marriage,

you know? How so? Nothing really changes. You're just bound by the law. Yeah. When you marry your best friend, you know, that relationship just stays strong.

Exactly. Wedding on the moon when? Oh, my God. We can make it happen. Yeah. Orem, will you officiate? Oh, yes, I will. Weddings have such a good history in our show.

I like how you don't ask the only holy person to officiate your wedding. You have a negative one in religion. I do. True, true. You guys, Laura and Marissa, you guys have talked about how you had no intention of developing a romantic relationship.

Whereabouts, whenabouts do you think it started to pop up? I think, like, you know when you think you have two friends and you know they're into each other and so they're just, like, really, like, jealous and cranky because, like, they just need to get together I felt like that was when it started like clicking in where I was like really like jealous of like Imogen having friends being friends with you with with um Frida thank you and Aurum and then just being like really irritated and I was

like oh no that's probably a sign. Same. Same. Yeah, we showed up after we parted. I mean, I was jealous before that. But when we showed up after we parted ways. And you were friends with all these other people. And I was so mad about it.

Yeah. They were so great. Oh, she's moved on. That was so fast. All I did was think about her. And she already moved on to somebody cool. That seems like such a healthy reaction. You can just be honest. Once

Chetney was off the market, you knew you had to settle. Second best! Marisha and Laura also declared that there was going to be no romance behind closed doors, and so for 10, 20, 30, 40 episodes, we're just sitting at the table and going,

are you sure? I built a dead girl! I've tried to build the most unromanceable character ever, and it backfired. I took you to so many goth clubs. What the living... Were you just not...

What were you doing? The way she pulls her arm off is just so sweet, you know? Nothing says I love you like Black Icker, right? It's good. It's good. You can draw hearts with it. When she swipes right, her finger falls off. Ashley Johnson.

Hey, that's me. Hey, hey. Hey, pal. I might mention modeling the lovely... You can allow an address. Hell yeah, look at that. Available at shop.critroll.com. Thank you, Sam.

You can check on your phones, but not now. Ashley Fern has gotten herself into some otherworldly deals with a ghost pirate captain. And a champion of the hells. Oops. My bad. What do you think about Fern's pension for winding up in these sticky situations?

Man, I don't know. I just, I'm just going with the flow, you know? And I think, I mean, Fern has been so fun to play because she's just kind of like, yeah, goes with the flow. It's really super vague and fluid and is just kind of like, I just going on, well maybe not my first impulse because that would be a little that would be a bit much maybe. So I may be going on my second and third impulse of like okay, what can I do here that feels like Fern but won't affect this whole story in a bad way. So feel free to do the things

that will affect it in a bad way. I don't know if that's a good idea. I dare you. I fucking dare you. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. You couldn't break stuff any more than you already do, so just go full hog.

Yes, I like breaking all of the things and seeing how much I can... Well, maybe not breaking. I can, how much I can, well maybe not breaking, I like seeing how much I can bend it. Just like a little bit of a bend. Yeah, but it's fun. I have a question that's not on this page. What is your favorite animal that you've wildshed into? Oh, the cloaca. The cloaca was fun. I heard cloaca. I was like, that's not a... I really love the shoebill because I just feel like they're such weird,

fantastical birds. They just look so funny, and now they just shake their little heads. I love animals so much, and I love round boys, and I love just little fat babies. So anytime I can just... I just like having a druid that just changes into animals

that are kind of not helpful. That are just small and like, well, I guess we'll go with that, because that's what we got. One of my favorite parts of sitting at the table was watching Ashley Johnson commit to her animal character work at that table. It was fantastic. Will you do the Quokka face? Yeah, please.

It's so good. Yeah. Was that it? Did I do it? I haven't done it in a minute. That's great. Oh, Sam Riegel. Hi.

In contrast to making everyone laugh at the table, Sam, what do you think is the most serious, heavy scene that you've gotten to participate in this campaign? Serious and heavy, that's me. Well, I've gotten to share in other people's serious moments by going into people's dreams with them, which has been kind of fun, interesting, and a little invasive. But thank you all for taking me along in your weird dreams. It's fun. But I think some of the more exciting, serious moments for me, honestly, Christian, were with you. Because you, you know, when you started

I was excited to play with you and have you at the table and stuff. But I didn't, I had no aspirations of my robot falling in love with anyone. And you were just so darn lovable that I couldn't help myself. And it was really sweet.

I would go home after the games and text you and be like, is this okay? You're saying the quiet part out loud, Sam. You're saying the quiet part out loud. Is this okay that we're falling in love? Yeah, it was exciting. I haven't fallen in love in a while. It was really great. So thank you for letting me into your metal heart.

Likewise, my friend. Thank you. Well, hang on a minute. I want to know how you came up with Frida, because Frida is just so wonderful and beautiful and kind. Tell us all the thing. Also, are you a werewolf now? Are you, though? Are you a metal werewolf?

I was thinking, maybe a conversation for later, but how long has it been? Has it been a full moon since I departed? Well, the moon's not moving. Oh, wait. That's true. Yeah, Ruiz doesn't have an extreme effect on lycanthropy,

only in certain instances when it is noticing you, like it did with Chetney. That's a whole other thing I hope to talk about someday. I would say it's getting close. In my head I just hear full transformers. To answer your question, Ashley, Abriai and Gar and I.

It's the first time we met. I she chapped. I had some ideas. I wanted to play an Aormaton. I knew I wanted to go back and forth with Sam a bit. And Aabria challenged me to create Frida and the many iterations that came out of there. And then, you know, you plan and you sit at the table and you throw it all the hell away and bounce back and forth with people, right?

So it was really a little bit of a Bria and myself and then sitting with you guys and the relationship Sam and I had at the table, I think, sort of set the tone. Oh. Shout out to Bria. Shout out to Bria. Who doesn't love her? Whoo! She's the best. We love you!

I got one for you, Tam. Ashton tends to play it a little close to the chess. What was the reunion after the solstice really like for them? And how do they feel knowing more about their Titan bloodline? Blood origins, I should say. Oh, yeah, when the whole group got back together? Yeah. Well, we were traumatized to all hell.

Yeah. We were not happy. No, it was bad. It is very much like... It felt like... Woo, trauma! Woo! It felt like getting into a car wreck and then getting arrested

and having to spend the night in jail after calling your friends until your phone died. And then they show up and they're like, Oh, dude, I was at the Taylor Swift concert. I was just so fucking... I know I didn't call you or ask if you wanted to go, and then you're just, cool. Cool. Cool.

I broke my arm. You should have been here, man. Yeah, the Titan Blood is interesting just because it was a character built around the notion of not really owning a past and being quietly

very aggressively unhappy about it and feeling like the world had been kind of shit so So now kind of having this dangled in front of them is like this interesting mix of, holy shit I have like all of this history and stuff and what the fuck happened? So it's more and more robbed the more they find out. Oh yeah, thank you, sorry. It's early, I haven't had coffee yet. It's Ashton, I don't know how not to.

I'm very excited to see what happens there. It's funny because you kind of, with Percy and with Molly and with Ash, said to Matt, I don't know what happened. You tell me. Three different ways. Ash had a little bit more, but yeah. I like it that way. He tells us one of those players that when he creates a character, likes to create a giant hole for me to go ahead and run with.

He's like, all right, cool, here's the structure, and there's a lot of mystery here that I don't want to know. Surprise me. Go. That's how you get your own city. I am taking notes. I feel like, Laura, you're going to own the moon by the end of this campaign. We'll see. Liam and Marisha.

What was that, Laura? I said those are my goals. Yes, amen. Liam and Marisha. Keyleth recently bestowed Orym a new title in recognition of his work, Savior Blade of the Tempest. So awesome. How does it feel to have another Air Ashari finding their way through the world?

Oh, it's just so great. I love it. I also just love the way that Liam has kind of embraced the Ashari culture, but also added to it so much, and really made it your own and run with it. Everything with the fighting style, because Liam came to me before the game started and was like, is there a fighting style?

Is there an army? Is there a guard? And I'm like, I don't know. I was like, you make it up. And it's been really cool seeing you contribute to the whole Ashari tribe. Well, that's one of my favorite things that we've done through the history of the games and the show, which is like even within one campaign, we'll be 50 or 60 episodes of the show in and then. It's just filling in empty spots from years ago, you know, from our game before.

And at a certain point, we went from just goofing around together to, like, building this universe together. And Matt leads the charge, but we've all of us enjoyed sort of painting in little areas as we go. And I love Zephra. I always have. And I just love carving out a little corner for my little halfling. How was it going back and getting to spend time with your family in Zephra? Oh, well, I've been thinking about them since before the show.

So I've been waiting and waiting and waiting to see how it will go. And, you know, Caleb and Vax had some bumps when they were kids. But Orm had a great childhood and I was looking forward to apple pie and muffins and seeing old friends just having a happy childhood a living mother it's wild, so rare

we did it y'all, we did it it takes three campaigns to make a character with a healthy familial relationship. Ruby, Ruby, Ruby does all right. That's true, yeah, yeah. I forgot to ask. Could everybody in costume stand up so we could get a look at you? Can we get a look at you?

Oh, we got a camera. Whoa. Oh, look at that axe back there, too. And that axe. There's so many weapons. We got a pate dead center in the middle. Oh, that's awesome. Oh, look at that axe back there, too. And that axe. So many weapons. We got a pate dead center in the middle. Oh, that's awesome. Oh, look at that.

She got the plate. Oh, my God. It's so cool. Look at Molly. Wow. Hi, Sprinkle. Everyone looks amazing. Oh, I can see your lollipop.

Big round of applause for yourself. Another hammer in the back there. Yeah, is that a boobie? Oh, these are so cool. Okay, you can rest your arms, guysop. Big round of applause for yourself. Is that a hammer in the back there? Yeah, is that a... These are so cool. Okay, you can rest your arms, guys. Is that Henry Crabgrass? Yeah. Amazing.

Yes. Henry. You guys look great. It's really important to maintain that, you know. Sprinkle lips. Matt, Matt, Matt. We've reached the totally new part of Exandria with the Shattered Teeth. Yay. Tell us what your world building process looked like these days compared to when you started.

Well, here's the funny thing. The Shattered Teeth was, anyone who's done their own world building knows, you can't build everything at once. It's very much like, I have a lot of ideas, so I'll make a note here, and I'll get back to that later. Shattered Teeth was one of those things that I developed a long time ago, very loosely. I was like, I'll deal with that later. And then realized, oh god, I have to actually deal with this now.

And one of the wonderful things, to what your point is, the collaborative experience of this, a lot of the history of the Shattered Teeth was established when I was collaborating with Brennan on Calamity. And so shout out to that series and that beautiful boy. And so a lot of developing that history also inspired some further ideas in developing that continent.

And so just for me, it's like, okay, cool. How do I maintain the air of mystery and unveil it in small, unique ways that really help it stand out against the rest of Exandria but also tie into facets of the history that we've kind of established in Calamity and you know just just tease them and slowly roll it out so my process isn't entirely different than the fact that now I have more cool people to kind of collaborate with on it which is is neat. Well, we love you, man. Laura, how does Imogen feel about her ties to Ruitous, her mother, and the Ray Laura, with all that's happened? Um...

You know, she feels confused. Um... Oh, God, how much to say? All of it. All of it. She looks like she's casting a spell. Vader. Vader is your mother. Yeah.

She spent so long believing that her mom had her back and that she had like, oh, my mom has this secret motive and she's really going to help us when it comes down to it and we're going to get there. And I know she's been telling me to run, but I'm going to get there and she's going to come to our side and we're all going to feed him together. And after everything that happened, it was kind of like,

oh, oh, no, she's not good. Oh. So she felt, like, suddenly very abandoned in a way that I don't think she had grasped before that. And, yeah, so now it's like this confusing thing of I don't want to lose everything that I've suddenly come to embrace. I love these powers. I love this feeling of being in control of myself and knowing that if we go down the path that we're going, that there's a very real possibility that everything that I've suddenly grown to love is going to disappear. But I don't really see another way outside of that. that everything that I've suddenly grown to love is gonna disappear but not I

don't really see another way outside of that so I have a question for everyone who's ruinous born at the moment off the top of my head I don't remember who all is ruinous born but do you guys ever play with feeling that dark side a little bit at the table? Not at all. No. No, I'm perfect. Yes. Yes. Chet, are you, Travis, is Chet rude as fuck? I'm just old and crazy. I got a Chetney question right here. Oh, this is, okay. How serious are the long rest rolls for Chet dying in his sleep? Serious is a heart attack, baby. I just figured, like, he's north of 400 years old,

and it would be such a stupid thing to roll triple aughts on that 100 roll. You've gotten so close. I'm really flirting with you guys. Is it 98 last time? 98? Yeah, I've done like 99. I've done one, two.

But I mean, of the 40 or 50 times that I've just tried to see if I could get three zeros to show up, I've never done it. So, you know, it'll be fine. I want it to happen so bad it is going to happen it is going to what if it happens just in the middle like we're getting up for this big final battle and Chet just dies before we go

that would be amazing it'd be so funny I'm gonna laugh so much I'm gonna go get some popcorn just sit behind Matt we're gonna loot your shit so fast you'll still be warm do you have like an all the time

backup character with Matt in case it happens just randomly that you can just like come in? no we should do that cause when you started this whole thing I I was like, that's a really funny joke. Right? Right, Travis?

Yeah, we were laughing and then, oops. It's especially complicated with, there's no revivification. Revivification magic, right? Anymore. Can you revive somebody who just died of old age? No. I mean, you can, but it'd be like, oh, thank you. I mean, right?

No gas for today. Is it like that cemetery? They come back wrong? I think I can, I could raise the dead so he could be around for another day. Yes. Maybe he'll kick off and we'll be around enough Dunamancy that when we try to bring him back, Bertrand will just

wake up in there. I'm so here for the old patrol. That would be great. Grumpy old men. This is a good one here. FCG just vanquished his greatest foe, Shithead. Sorry, kids.

Who would purposely shit on FCG when they saw each other. How did it feel then to immediately turn around and ask to be shit on in return? Oh my god. How did we not realize that in the moment?

Wow. Wow. Art is How did we not realize that in the moment? Wow. Art is something, isn't it? Transcendent. Is that what we do? Yeah. That is art. Cue the shit!

See, that would have been real fun if you just dropped shit on me. You try so hard to prepare any possibility, and you never really know where a session's going to go. Please don't scream shit on me too much for the rest of this campaign. Put it in the MoMA. Liam O'Brien. I love this stupid stuff so much. It has been shown time and time again that the Bells Hells see Oram as their check-in guy

for everything from morality to strategy. So how is Oram handling this role, and does he feel even more that it's his duty since visiting Zephyr? I think Aurum is a mirror for me and probably everyone in this room when expectation is put on you and you don't really feel like the guy or the girl and you just have to maintain anyway I think that he doesn't feel perfect he doesn't feel good he doesn't feel right but he does feel responsible and he feels that sometimes from Bell's Hells and he certainly felt that being propped up in front of all of Zephra, you know, it feels a little bit like a

phony, less so, but I mean, that's just life, right? You still have to get up every day. You still have to do the things that are required of you. And at this point, they're on a rocket to the moon and there's not going to be a lot of sidestops so he's putting his doubts out of the way and just doing the job I think and complicated by the fact that he loves these dead people and robots now

you know he's compartmentalizing and living it's funny because I remember when you were building Aurum and we were talking before the game and you're like, you know, Caleb had such like drive and agency and this really strong goal and, you know, Vex or Vax. Damn. Eight years. Why? but yeah I remember you being like I just want to kind of like roll sidekick

you know right in the back seat and just like let the see where the campaign takes me and then we start and everyone's like so what are we doing you you're responsible will you be our leader just me and a bunch of grogs. I think I can speak for everyone in this room. Eight years you guys continuously

create characters that as you touched on we can all reflect we see ourselves in them you help us through the toughest times in our own lives when we watch you guys. So just thank you. Thank all of you. Tal, what's your favorite rage form? Oh, that's easy. It's the one I never get.

It's time, and I never really get to play with time, although space has been a lot of fun lately. So those are the two. Although my favorite thing to happen is when I get the one I absolutely don't want and then figure out how to make it work in really fun and strange ways. I still don't understand them. So there's time. Time.

Space. Those are the two you just said. Heart. Heart. Earth. Chaos. No, time, space, gravity, and probability. Gravity and probability. And umami.

No quintessence yet. I don't know. The fifth one. You building the rod into that hammer is one of my favorite things in the history of the show. Genius, genius, genius. You asked me, like, can I do that?

Yeah, that sounds like fun. I know a hundred DMs who would have said F no so thanks Matt you're missing out let the players have fun stuff and confuse you and if it breaks your game items can break

that's a threat oh I'm aware you leave my boots alone! He did, Matt. I mean, he did, Liam. He did. The whole time. Guys, we can handle this backstage, guys.

Travis, in order for Bell's Hells to get safe passage, Chetney had to give up his new sword. I can't pronounce it. Matt, how do you pronounce it? I have to look at the... Grass char? Grass char, yeah. Grass char.

How'd you enjoy having a third cursed blade? And did you plan to act on anything he wanted you to do? You guys... Sometimes you're just the best. All good things come to you. It's not a surprise anymore. No, I actually loved seeing Matt with that sword personality

that was like this encouraging old knight, which was fantastic. It had some incredible abilities that I didn't actually use to its fullest potential in a fight, which was terrifying and scary. But I think putting it in the hands of a ghost pirate ship captain is probably far better for the story than it would ever be with me.

So I'm sure that will have no ramifications at all. Not at all. The mythology of the Crimson Abyss and Captain Novo's just got a whole lot more interesting. Worth it. Ashley Johnson, how did you enjoy your escapade into the Captain's quarters? And what was going through your mind that entire encounter? Chat me. Boy, I, you know, I wanted to go in there just to kind of snoop and see what I could find and try to find some stuff to take.

To borrow, rather. And I didn't realize he was just going to stay in there the whole time. So I was like, uh-oh, I don't know what to do. So I was just kind of flying by the seat of my pants and just trying to figure out how to sort of, I don't know. Like I really literally had no plan, and I did want to try to get the sword back because I loved the sword

and every time that the character would come out in Matt, it was just so funny. So I was like, oh man, I want to get that back. Plus it's funny that Travis gets another one of those. But at the same time, it didn't work. I just love being encouraged to try and assassinate Keyleth. That was the best. Yes, it was so funny.

But, you know, I got a good spoon in with a skeleton, and, you know... It's wonderful, isn't it? It's... Oh, man. Yeah, I... And the five hit points also comes with a boon, which is really fun.

Yeah, what's the boon? Well, I can't tell you yet. Well, please? I will say that that whole sequence with Ashley is a perfect example of my favorite moments in the game. When things go so weird that it becomes a game of chicken with one or more players.

We are all kind of looking at each other like, what next? What are you going to do? What are you going to do? Okay, let's see where this goes. Fully a game of chicken. It's so good. Fully a game of chicken. It's so good. Fully a game of chicken.

Wait, I have to say a side note really quickly. The sign language interpreters, you guys are amazing. I've been watching you guys. And you both have amazing shoes. Seriously. Your shoes are amazing. Yes. Both of you.

Great shoes. Side note. When I played with these guys, I had a couple of things that I thought, man, if I could get to do that, I'd feel really proud of myself. Stealing something with Fern was one of those things. Yeah. Yeah, we did it. And we got to do that, so that was fun for me. Thank you. I would love if the entire denouement of the campaign was just Fern going around the world trying to return all the items she borrowed.

It's going to just take me so long, but I'm going to do it. Okay, this is for everybody. How is it for you to explore totally new regions, we kind of touched on this, when you've become such experts on the rest of Exandria? You hear that? We're experts. I feel like we

forget everything. We do. Yes. You especially, you take such copious notes. I do. But they're useless. Yes, they are. No, they're not. No, they're not. She always goes back.

She can find stuff. She comes in clutch. I take far too many. Most are useless. But the tempers and the time that they come in handy. You should see some of the things you're writing. They're color-coded. You were giving me shit for it because I was like,

we must cut off Ludinus' head. Out of context, this could get me indicted. I'm on a list. So we'll do it. Years from now, we'll release the Marisha notebook across the campaigns. I write down all the names and everything, too. I never look at them ever again.

Ever. And really, I think that my notebook and a little bit Laura's, we just use to draw butts and stuff for each other. I always start the campaign taking pretty decent notes, and then by this point in the campaign, it's just like I don't... Yeah, it's just sketches of things that you're talking about.

Butts. It's butts. It's butts. Can't confirm it's butts. Yeah. Okay. Can't confirm it's butts. Also at this point Matt has introduced so many characters and connections and the branching storyline has sort of folded in on itself so many times. Every time we meet somebody new, I feel like is this someone we already met? Or is this someone, like, the name will be slightly similar to somebody from campaign one, and I'm like, oh, this is a connection, and I'll furiously check through the pages,

and it's just nothing. It's just nothing. Garbage. And one of the best things that Matt does, and he does so many things so well, is paint these pictures of these fantastical places. I love reaching new places, and you know, if you look at us, we're just like... as it goes. I'm glad you still care.

We do. You're still the best. I take notes, Matt. I actually have a multicolored pen, and I draw next to my notes. It's very detailed. Just so you know. I just asked Danny Carr before every episode. It's like,

Danny, what's happening? Who are these people? Shout out to Danny. Shout out to Danny. Okay. Last question, then we'll move on to some questions from the audience. I really like this question. How does it feel to experience your

other characters from past campaigns in this world doing such cool shit? Cool stuff, part of my friendship. Good save there. Thanks. Good. You covered that. I mean, meeting Scanlan, Nott, Tarion,

it's just been so great. Hey, Liam. Liam and Marisha, what was it like meeting all of your characters? It's pretty great, you guys. It's really pretty great. I'm still convinced it's just because my workaholic nature in real life

just slips into my D&D characters and none of them have retired. Yeah. So that's a problem. I should re-evaluate some things. You're not wrong. In the sense of people's characters who have retired are less likely to come into the story.

I'm just following the threads of the logic and the narrative. I'm not trying the threads of the logic and the narrative. I'm not trying to be choosy. It just kind of made sense with Orm's backstory that Keeleth would be involved in Assetriproxy. Percy would be involved in Whitestone, tends to be a recurring place. And then we get into the elements with the Ruby Vanguard and Ludinus' path and the people that would still be hunting that path down would be the current member of the Cobalt Soul and the one who spent their life trying now to take down the dark parts of the surface assembly.

But the campaign's not done yet. We'll see where the paths take us. I love your Percy. It's as snarky as I've ever seen you get in my entire life. I'm like, you're almost... Yeah, it's just like, you could even get snarkier. You're so snarky.

It's incredibly surreal to watch your current character argue with your past character and they just, they hate each other. No, you, that's just practically a commentary on Percy. Yeah, no.

I imagine it's a lot of fun for you guys, but I know it's a lot of fun for us when they pop up. I get all the hairs on my back and my neck and I stand up. It's a lot of fun for you guys, but I know it's a lot of fun for us when they pop up. I get all the hairs on my back when they stand up. It's a lot of fun. Oh, it's the greatest. And just like we talked a little bit about this earlier,

but this is like this living, breathing world in our minds, and we just keep fleshing out more of the world. And I think about, like, what Caleb and Bo do, like a Sherlock and Watson duo over the decades. And Vax is in a basketball. What does that mean? Is it as big as a basketball? How big is it?

I'd say it's like a... How big is it, Matt? About that big. About that big? All right. Like a smaller, a child-sized basketball. A bowling ball? Am I a bowling ball? I think you're a bowling ball, yeah.

You could dunk him, though? Like, you could do a dunk? Maybe. Is that how Ludinus kicked it off? Yeah. Nothing but net. Like a handball. Someone please draw that.

Vaughn, like Nike logo Ludinus, just... I lied I'm going to ask one more question because this isn't interesting what stuff for anyone who wants to answer things that you've watched or read or listened to recently that have inspired you not necessarily within the context of Critical Role but generally

well we have time to watch other things I haven't consumed anything yet. I don't know. I recently, I delved into a book of short stories in the original Swedish language. No, I did watch Jury Duty on Amazon, though. It's really good.

I'm actually really excited that it's spooky season and there's a lot of... Yeah, there's time for horror films because that's always good. Good lot enough fodder. Yeah, and at that same point, me and Marisha tend to deep dive into YouTube, dark mystery rabbit holes.

We were a big kind of like Nexpo's YouTuber that makes a lot of creepy deep dives and that's the kind of stuff we go to sleep to at night. We were a big kind of like Nexpo's YouTuber that makes a lot of like creepy deep dives and that's the kind of stuff we go to sleep to at night. We're healthy people. Alright, alright. Shall we move on to the audience questions? Yeah. Let's do it.

Lighting change. Oh my god, I love that there's two sprinkles right at the front. This is incredible already. This is amazing. So you guys see we've got the two mics over here. We've got a lot of questions. There's not going to be a lot of time. We'll try to make sure we keep this quick.

Rapid, short, succinct. Probably if you're not already in line, it's not going to happen. Let's just be real. We see a clock that says 11 minutes and 15 seconds. Go. All right, we're going to start over here. Hi, my name is Bobbi. Hi, Bobbi.

Hi, Samlin. Hi. Yes. But my question is for Matt, but anybody else can answer. Critical role means a lot to everyone, mental health-wise. It's a lot of people's stimming show, a show that makes them feel a lot of things. As a person who deals with mental health and is vocal about it,

how does it feel to be a steward in a public setting in that way? Wow, I'm going to start off with the big one. That's great. Oh, boy. I mean, mental health needs to be talked about because everyone deals with it, whether they are honest to themselves about it or not. It's a very important thing to be discussed and be normalized.

And for me, I was excited at the prospect of finding other people who maybe felt alone and felt like they didn't have a shared experience with the people and show them somebody in a public space that is in a similar position and day-to-day challenge, and through that find solidarity and community. So it's been very exciting to see that happen. Also, at the same point, my experience is just my own, and every experience is different. So I also want to make sure that people understand that there is no monolith within any sort of mental health experience

and a lot of that is thankfully held forward by the community of all of you and supporting each other. So I'm thankful. It's a lot of pressure and I'm just doing the best I can to go forth and get healthy. Well, we all thank you.

So thank you so much. Good question. We'll move on to the thank you so much. Good question. We'll move on to the right. Thank you for that question. Hi, my name is Hannah. It's a pleasure to meet you guys. Hi, Hannah. My question is, going off of a Freaky Friday idea, if something were to occur where your characters switch bodies and you had to change character sheets with each other,

who would you change character sheets with and why from Bell's Hells? That's a really fun question. We've talked about this before. We've been toying with this idea for many years. That might be a one-shot in the future. Anyway, down the line, quick. Travis, go.

I would be Ashton. I'd also be Ashton so I could understand how your character works. Fuck, I'd be Chetney. That breaks everything. All right. Ooh, ooh, ooh. Ladna. Ladna or FCG?

I think I would be Fern, because I want to try different animal bodies and stuff. Okay. I think Ladna, because Orm was so scared in the beginning that I would love to have him go through the experience of his body falling apart and his hair coming out. I would say Fern just because I want to know

what it feels like to have a pouch. It's so Orm and cozy. Hi, I'm Lizette. And I, too, am a dice goblin. Yes. I'm like Laura. Oh, my God. Look at you.

So cute. Oh, wow. Are they all, is it all real, real sets? All real sets. If you want one later, I'll give you one. Okay. I have lots. You're beautiful.

I love it. Thank you. You inspired me. So my question is, we all know that Laura has dice superstitions, but what dice superstitions do the rest of you have? My superstition is that it doesn't matter. That they're all the same. He says that. He says that.

But then if he starts rolling bad on one, you'll move it away. I watch you do it. No. No. No. Now the panel can actually begin. Thank you. Have you just been doing the whole panel with it open so everybody can see?

Yeah, everybody else saw, just not him. Next question. Thank you for that question. Sprinkles. Hi, my name is Allison, and this question's for all of you, and especially for Laura. Hi. What made you guys choose Rose City? It's nice to have you at a little con where we can actually come to the Northwest and see you guys. And is it because Voodoo Donuts has penis-shaped donuts?

Wait, what? I'm showing you the pictures. And Travis knew this because we told him a couple cons ago. Maybe they deliver. What? That's why we came here. That's why. That's why we came. Just go get us some real quick.

No, don't do that. Do not do that. Beer traveler, deliver us these dicks. To answer the first part of your question, this was one of the first cons we ever went to as a group, actually, back in the day. So it's kind of a full circle homecoming in a way. Thank you.

Thank you. Oh, I want a donut now. No, I don't. I want a donut now. I want a dick. Makes me want a donut. Donut. Dick donut. Get that big donut energy. Hello, Laura.

I'm Hans. Fun fact, I've been watching the show since I was eight. Woohoo! Oh, I'm sorry! Campaign one! He's 35 today! No! Hi, Hans!

Hi! Actually, I wanted to say two things really quickly. Thank you so much for being so inclusive with gender identity, mental health, and sexual orientation. It is so helpful that it's online and that we can experience it. And the real question is, when, it's for Matt, being the DM of my friend group and our sessions, when did you come up with the idea of the Primordial Titan Blood for Ashton? Because in my campaign that's been going on for two years now, I have a character

that is Earth Genasi Titan Blood. No way! That's awesome! Yep. I stole it from you. Yeah! I watched it live on stream and I'm just like, wait a minute. What are you doing? I watch all of your campaigns and I'm just like, wait a minute, what are you doing? I watch all of your campaigns

and I feed off your creativity. No, um... When he first gave me the character, when he gave me the idea of Ashton, you know, being once non-Genasi and then through this, you know, circumstance with his, you know, village in the past, kind of was the one

survivor that he knew of and had this strange transformation and didn't give any reason why. That was kind of the initial inspiration. So, got to flesh it out over time. And I stole it from you. Thank you. Pleasure. On the right over there.

Hello. Hello. My name is Sherry. I am here, honestly, with my fam. First of all, I need to thank you all. We watch this as a family. I'm 56. Yay! And we watch this, and you guys create characters.

My 6'4 can be in a velour jumpsuit. Yes! Amazing. I can dress as Nana Mori. Oh, I love it. It looks so good. We have a little bit of stuff um we so enjoy the characters you're great but i we always sit here and when something is thrown at you matt and it's like hey you're meeting this person and now this how do you come up with the voices and how do you come up with the on the spot this is this person uh part of it is i just

have a lot of people in my head at all times. And it's just kind of a rotating of like, all right, who's there? Okay, you're... And half the time, it just kind of comes out and I'm like, oh, that was a choice, but I guess we're stuck in it now. You know, for important NPCs that I expect them or hope that they might run into based on the coming session, I'll write notes of like their vocal timbre, texture, how high pitch, low pitch, any sort of dialect.

I'll give myself like quick shorthand notes so I can glance at it and approximate where they would land when I speak as them. But a lot of NPCs just get made up on the spot and it's just kind of picking from my toolbox and sometimes I'm very proud of it, sometimes I'm like, okay, well we're just stuck there for the rest of the campaign

and hopefully never return to that NPC, and they do to watch me sweat Thank you, I really love those little amphibian shit fairies and their voice good so cute Hi, I have a question for Ashley so that's me. Hi. Guess what? That's also me. Oh, hi. Twins. My question is for Fern, and kind of going back to an answer that you gave earlier, going all the way back to even like EXU Prime, when Fern pretended to be, I think, a chef on the ship, like in just thinking about those impulses, what is one that you didn't go through that you wish you did?

Ooh. Ooh. Okay. One actually that still sort of plagues me to this day was when Imadna... That's not your name. Imogen. Wow, I'm sure it is. Imadna?

It's our ship name. Imogen. I'm Im Imogen Sheesh Louise Is when we first met Ludinus And he Took the papers From the woman that I think he cast Feeble mind on her And I instantly was wanting

To set the papers on fire Like I Inst instantly was like, oh, is that a good idea? And I didn't do it, but I still, to this day, I'm like, I should have just done it. I should have just done it and got rid of it. But I think that could have gone bad. I had a battle map just in case something went down.

Dang it! Always do it. Dang it, I should have done it. It would have died, but it would have been worth it. Probably. We got one more question. We're going to go over here to the right. Oh, no. Okay, so my question is for Laura.

Hi. Hi, I'm Lehua. And so, first of all, I just want to say thank you for making Imogen. She's someone that I really, really identify with, with her struggles and just, and the gayness. Fair? You know. But just thank you for making such a complex character. But my question, it's a little bit serious, but so Jester has seen the bug. Imogen seems to have seen the bug. Has Vex seen the bug?

Vex has seen the bug. One time when I was little, I saw a bug... carrying a piece of bread that was like five times its size. Stubby, go to bed already, I'm trying to sleep. No, no, in fact, listen, it was five times its size. Oh, buddy. It was five times its size. Hmm. Oh, buddy. I gave him more time. I lied. We're going to do one more question, folks.

We're going to go over here to the left. I just wanted to say a comment. I almost had a panic attack getting here because I left my newborn for the first time to come see you guys. Welcome. Congratulations. Oh, thank you guys. Welcome! Congratulations. That is a good job. Cool. Okay, yeah, you ask yours.

Okay, you're fantastic people. You all know this. If you don't, you should. I've only played, I've really newborn to D&D the last two and a half years or so, and it has fantastically changed my life for the better. Wee baby! You are very responsible.

You are all very responsible for that and I want to know, since you've been playing for more than two and a half years, how has your characters changed the way you see the world? Anybody can answer, whoever has it ready. I don't know, I use mine as therapy all time, so it tends to not really work out. Oh yeah. I genuinely think that the more that you play this game, the more you empathize with everybody around you. Because this game forces you to sit in other people's shoes and experience things in a way that you might not think of it in your day-to-day life.

And it just makes you, I don't know, more forgiving and more empathetic. As an extension of that, being a dungeon master, because you flesh out every person in every town, and in your head you kind of contemplate for a minute all their little stories. And so I will say being a dungeon master since high school has taught me to, whenever I walk into a gas station or I go to a grocery store, every person there has a story. And that is a very positive reminder to make sure you still treat them as a person with a story.

I think there's a lot of that empathy missing in this world and in our country in a lot of ways and so I'm very thankful for that. On a personal level, I think all of them, but Campaign two especially, spending time with Caleb helped me with the idea of not trying to, no longer trying to escape all difficulties, but sort of learning to live with them.

And accepting life has challenge and it's still beautiful at the same time and that's still beautiful at the same time and that's okay. Yeah, I think anyone who's starting D&D, your instinct is to do like a self-insert kind of character, something very close to you, and I do encourage that, you know, when you're just getting a grasp of the rules. But for future characters, yeah, I challenge everyone to kind of

make someone who doesn't think like you and live it out and see what you can learn from that. It can be very enlightening. Yeah. Mine's short. It's just you're never too young or too old for adventure. Yeah.

All right, y'all. I think we're going to wrap things up. Anyone want to finish things up? Last remarks? We love you. We love you. We love you all. All right, y'all. Let's hear it.

Travis Willingham. Marissa Ray. Taliesin Jaffee. Ashley Johnson. Sam Riegel. Liam O'Brien. Laura Bailey. Matt Mercer.

We love you. Thank you so much for joining us on this adventure. To help new listeners discover the show, please give us a rating and review on whatever podcasting app you're listening on. Until next time, is it Thursday yet?