Happening: Merry Critmas!
The “Critical Role” cast shares their favorite live projects.
A version of this story originally appeared in our Happening newsletter, a weekly mix of new projects, buzzworthy stories, and other things our team is excited about. Sign up to get it in your inbox every Tuesday (and sometimes, Saturday).
For the past seven years, the self-described “nerdy-ass voice actors” behind Critical Role have been playing Dungeons and Dragons in each others’ living rooms — and since 2015, they’ve invited the whole world in on the fun with their livestream. (“There are cheers, tears, and some pretty epic battles.”)
Their legendary first D&D campaign, Vox Machina, will be immortalized in an animated series thanks to over 67,000 (and counting!) Critical Role fans — aka Critters — on Kickstarter, who’ve banded together to make The Legend of Vox Machina the most funded Film project in our history.
So how could we pass up the opportunity to ask these fine folks to take over our newsletter for a day? Here they tell us about some other Kickstarter projects they’re excited about, plus their favorite fan artists.
(Also, if you haven’t backed The Legend of Vox Machina yet, there’s still time to join the adventure.)
Eight projects handpicked by the Critical Role team
(So you know they’re good.)
The Time Scouts Handbook
“Our longtime friends at 826LA, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping young students develop their writing skills, have launched a Kickstarter campaign for the first full-press edition of the ‘interdimensionally acclaimed’ Time Scouts Handbook. 826LA does incredible work with the young storytellers they foster, and this project is a great way to get creatively involved.”
CodeScty
“‘Like Schoolhouse Rock for computer science,’ CodeScty uses original hip hop music and videos to teach foundational computer science concepts to communities of color. When it comes to learning, we think it’s very important to remove barriers to entry, and that’s precisely the mission CodeScty is valiantly undertaking with this cool project.”
Raven Wild
“We’re always excited to see diversity in the fiction that inspires young storytellers. Raven Wild is an illustrated LGBTQ+ children’s book that promotes transgender visibility and acceptance through inclusive storytelling. It’s the third in a fan-favorite series, presenting a new fantasy tale aimed at younger readers about identity, loyalty, and love.”
Ink Begets Color
“This coloring book for adults is a project from Mexican artist and designer Aretia Irn, whose vivid style of surrealism caught us totally by surprise. If you’ve seen #PubDraw or our weekly Critter art galleries, you’ll know that visual art is the yin to our audible storytelling yang, and we’re excited to see this project come to life. In Aretia’s own words: ‘I wanted to find a way to make people interact with my artwork, and I love how coloring can transform drawings.’”
STEAM Hack
“When games and education come together, beautiful things happen. This zine from engineer and professor Allen White offers backers two STEM games fueled by a combination of art, traditional science, and engineering education. We deeply believe in projects that can help make STEM more accessible to all. The Kickstarter funds will contribute to a revised layout (making it easy to use for busy educators) and beautiful black-and-white art by illustrator Ivy Fowler.”
Ballad of the Pistolero
“Ballad of the Pistolero is a Wild West tabletop RPG from indie developer Foxwood Games. It runs on a d100 system, with character creation focused on ‘professions’ like one of our favorite old-school games, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Ballad sounds fun because it promises to be streamlined, simple, and story-driven.”
Firmament
“Firmament is a next-generation narrative adventure from Myst creators Cyan Worlds. We absolutely adore Myst, and if you’ve played it you know the special kind of storytelling, artistic integrity, and inventive puzzles that have made Cyan famous. Firmament is the beginning of a new universe that is designed for VR but built to play on PC as well, and we unapologetically want more of that genre-bending interactive goodness.”
Calico
“Games don’t have to be super challenging to be fun! Calico is a ‘calm and cozy’ cat café simulator where you pet cats, decorate your café, and hang out with witches and magical girls (paging Laura Bailey…). We love Calico because it promises players a laid-back, low-stress creative environment to explore and play in (Thursday nights can be nerve-racking)! The game’s animated style looks fantastic, and we can’t wait to cozy up with some fur babies for a relaxing time.”
Celebrating The Legend of Vox Machina’s Kickstarter artists
Get to know the folks who contributed art to the Kickstarter campaign.
Hunter Bonyun
“Not only are Hunter’s unique character designs always brimming with beautiful detail, she’s great at showing those characters in action.”
Jessica Mahon
“We’ve always been charmed by Jessica’s knack for human expression and character. She consistently captures both the comedy and the heart of these characters in equal measure.”
Selina Espiritu
“Selina has amazing range as an artist and can lean into both badass action and more cartoony fun with equal skill. She has been gracing the show with her art almost from the beginning and always impresses with her detail and her excellent compositions.”
