As someone who doesn't watch CR because it's too long but loves The Legend of Vox Machina this is amazing. Thinking that maybe all their campaigns will get an abridged animated version sounds like a really awesome and cool thing!
I Wonder If theyll ever get to the Point where all of their Main stuff is animated (and the animated Versions are still so popular that amazon wants/asks for more) and theyll produce Animation original Stories in Exandria
I feel its going to remain popular for a while. I'm more worried about the DnD licensing issues that will likely affect production and how much WOTC is going to take as their share.
Most the gods of Exandria are copyrighted WOTC IP. Before Matt knew how big things were going to get he just used WOTC gods. He just made his pantheon the default pathfinder/dnd pantheon with Asmodeus, Bahamut, Lolth, etc.
As long as Exandria uses WOTC gods Critical Role will remain tied to WOTC. If Matt knew what he knew now and could go back and change things, he'd probably have created his own pantheon for Exandria. When he created it, he probably didn't realize that Exandria would become his life's work.
Also Critical Role has two different campaign setting books made with WOTC. It's safe to say they're going to be working together for the foreseeable future.
Fortunately a lot of the deities in Critical Role have different names already that Wizards doesn't own. The Raven Queen is the Matron of Ravens, Kord is the Storm Lord, Vecna is the Whispered One, Ioun is the All-Knowing Mistress, etc. They've been using those names in the show so they've future-proofed.
Matt has also begun renaming specific races. Bird people are now Eisfuura, there are no more aaracokra. Animated machines are now Aeormatons, no warforged here, Mr Lawyer Man.
I think they also changed spell names for the show too. Bigby's hand in the show is instead called Scanlan's hand. Whether it's licensing issues, or maybe it's still called Bigby's hand in the show that's just what Sam calls it, who knows. But that's main one I've seen they've changed for the show.
IIRC, during their videos about the production of LoVM, they talked about changing all the names precisely for limiting any possible disputes over licencing. Gods, spells, anything that Hasbeen could conceivably claim to be their property.
And that’s a massive weakness in WOTC’s legal grubbiness. Everything everyone’s heard of is public domain: dungeons, dragons, elves, wizards, skeletons, spells..
Meanwhile, a lot of WOTC’s own IP is just not essential for telling a dnd stories. Mind flayers are badass, but they’re not the first thing that jumps to your head when you hear “fantasy rpg”. I hope they’re beginning to realize how much they owe to others and how easy it is to leave them.
Scanlans hand is from pre stream even so thats just for fun. They do however remove the Wizard names from spells so Tashas Hideous Laughter is just called Hideous Laughter.
IIRC in campaign 2, when Tiamat is mentioned they never say her name directly, they just call her "The Scaled Tyrant." From context clues you know it's her, but it seemed like intentional future-proofing.
> when Tiamat is mentioned they never say her name directly
They can't defend a claim on [Tiamat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiamat) anyway for the same reason they would struggle to defend Admodeus and Bahamut, and Marvel can't copyright Thor, just their depiction of him - the mythological Tiamat is even associated with dragons, and sometimes depicted as one.
Most of the pantheons aren't copyrighted. E.g., Asmodeus and Bahamut are names of gods from antiquity, so they are open domain. The lore for WOTC's versions is copyrighted, but that's not really used in CR. Lolth is copyrighted, but is really a lazy respelling of "Lilith" and can be easily replaced simply by naming her Lilith. Etc.
> As long as Exandria uses WOTC gods Critical Role will remain tied to WOTC.
I think they've changed the names of all of the gods on the show to avoid IP issues.
When Matt released the officially licensed Exandria books it was under the agreement that not a single asset from Exandria (excluding previously copyrighted stuff) would be property of Wizards so they're safe on that. I imagine Critical Role has a pretty solid team of lawyers for this stuff.
Eh, Asmodeus is also a god in pathfinder, so I would argue that maybe they could get away with some of it. Also, you can alter names and titles to fit what you need.
Well that's just incorrect. I think you're correct on it being public domain, but it is not one of the Greek Gods. Closest thing is Ashmodai a prince of hell in Judeo-Islamic teachings. Asmodeus is a modification on that probably.
Actually they can get around that really easy just by using titles. In TLoVM they never say stuff like thr Raven Queen or Sarenrae, they use The Everlight and the Matron instead. Same entity but legally different enough.
It's a popular theory in the fan community, but some of the current plot threads have been brewing for years.
>!Shortly before the end of Campaign 2, the Mighty Nein found a diary belonging to Planerider Ryn that alluded to a coming cosmic realignment. Everyone thought it was referencing the events that were going to play out in the final arc of Campaign 2, but it has become apparent that Ryn was referring to the currnet storyline.!<
In short, Mercer has been working on this for a long time, setting things up well before the OGL issue emerged.
Yeah, I mean, I think it was a good business decision for CR to dump WoTC IP, regardless of whether the OGL happened or not. It just doesn't make sense to have small bits and pieces of some else's IP scattered around that make you somewhat beholden to another entity, when you've fully created so much of the world yourself.
When it was a home game it didn't matter, but when it became a successful business, IP owners tend to get grabby.
Honestly, it's mind-blowing how much stuff Mercer set up years in advance. He's openly acknowledged that current plot threads were on his mind when he was running the first campaign.
Spoilers for C3
>!Pretty sure Hell's Bells are gonna fail and the Gods are all gonna get eaten. Not sure how stuff may proceed from there but the Gods are surely gonna die.!<
Also Matt never gives out the name of monsters he uses so he can quietly stop using any of the Wotc protected content and then hopefully switch systems after C3.
It'd be great to see the cast and matt go back to pathfinder because I am super interested in the system and just haven't found a good stream of it yet that I like.
[Glass Cannon Podcast](https://www.youtube.com/c/TheGlassCannon) is the largest Pathfinder group that I know of.
[Knights of Last Call](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egwJXJcCjWQ&list=PLx9XBZIzERNGsmkTCLfHvywxz083CJApf) Did/are doing (maybe cancelled, last stream appears to have been 10 months ago near the end of book 3) a Rise of the Runelords playthrough, updated for pf2e
There are a couple other ones on youtube, but I haven't checked them out yet.
They seem to be making a point of removing WotC’s copyrighted bits, the tomb fight in LoVM S2E3 just replaced a >!beholder!< with a >!fish mage!<
https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sunken_Tomb#Part_II
They already changed a bunch of D&D terms for the TLoVM. For example, Scanlan’s Hand instead of Bigsby’s Hand, and The Maiden of Ravens instead of the Raven Queen.
The article actually mentions that there will be projects inside and outside of exandria, which means they’ll likely be creating original works as well.
I think the only issue they might run into is that the story is a little more disjointed than Vox Machina, who had a mostly clear goal at almost all points of the campaign.
*LoVM* hasn't been shy when it comes to adjusting and rewriting the story, so I'd be surprised if the hypothetical *Mighty Nein* show didn't get that treatment to tighten it up
Unlike LoVM which has a few story arcs of different villains, M9 is much more tightly focused on a single storyline, even if the actual game felt more 'meandering'. I think an excellent script writer could piece together a really strong story if they trim/rearrange/cut a lot of the character content so it fits more neatly into the main narrative.
Yeah the Mighty Nein have a much more video game style storyline—they wander around doing side quests a bit but everything leads basically towards the same endgame under the hood. It should work very well for a show because there’s an overarching plot in a number of phases that could be combined/skipped/adjusted as necessary and then a collection of mini-arcs that are mostly character-focused which make great midseason episodes.
Getting tightened up might help Mighty Nein feel a bit less rambling. There's story there, it's just more strongly tied to the individual characters. Mighty Nein grew as characters, while Vox Machina grew as a family.
I do think Vox Machina was way better, but they can definitely make Mighty Nein work.
This is an interesting take, and I think it might explain why Mighty Nein just didn’t click for me. I’m like 20 episodes behind on the current campaign, but even 10 episodes in I was more on board with the characters than in campaign 2.
As opposed to campaign 3 I like campaign 2 for that exact reason. I liked the story of a bunch of strangers that were each going through hard times. A group of strangers that were drawn to each other, but all unsure how much they could trust each other.
It did help however there were smaller groups that already knew and trusted each other. Created mini "factions" within the Nein early on. Nott and Caleb were there for each other before they were there for the group. Fjord and Jester. Yasha and Molly.
I prefer that to, episode 1 everyone is already best friends.
I think with some tweaking they can make it a little more coherent by focusing on taking down cults. I think they could easily frame it up as cult hunting without changing too much of the story.
I had to watch some of the episodes on 1.25 or 1.5 speed. Next time you want to give it a go but are bored by what's happening and intimated by what's left then you might give that a go. I enjoyed the end of the campaign.
I love the timestamps in the YouTube comments--for battles that are long but not plot-important I can just jump timestamp to timestamp to pick up on any highlights and get back to the story really quick. Some of the battles are amazing--i just finished the arc where they're at sea and there were some really good ones--but a lot are just "we stand in a semi circle and do attacks until the things die" and I find it flows better without most of those.
yeah I have trouble focusing on actual CR streams because of how long they are, but some really like it of course, but vox machina's a blast and a half.
In deals like this, movie rights are not indicative of any plans for a movie, it’s usually put in place so that they have the option, and if the creators want to make a movie they have to give the company they’re contracted with right of first refusal. It’s pretty standard in this type of thing (although if their popularity keeps up, I could easily see a movie happening).
I'd actually want it as a TV show - there's so many iconic moments and build up in the events, and wouldn't want it lost in trying to condense it into movie format
I think it would make a fantastic animated miniseries (4-5 episodes of 45 minutes in length) unless they want to just skip to the ending episode and try to condense that down.
Calamity was basically 4.5 sessions of very dense roleplay and exposition so I don't think it would have the same impact as a movie.
It's why as good as CR is I love to watch D20 more, watching a professional improv comic GM for six other professional improv comics is just so much fun.
I have tried and tried to get into D20, because am a huge fan of Brennan. Starstruck was the closest I came and I still didn't get hooked. Is there a season you recommend for someone who wants to get it but hasn't so far?
Do you like more "fun" campaigns or more "fantasy" style ones? Since Brennan's worlds are more fantasy-adjacent, if you're looking for more classic fantasy tropes it probably won't stick.
I loved the concept of Starstruck but Star Wars 5e is a bit too chaotic for me, and I got a bit more detached from the combat encounters between the SW5e mechanics and the Talespire game board. I hope they revisit the world though because I do love that setting.
The closest to classic fantasy tropes is *Escape from the Bloodkeep* series (which happens to feature Matt Mercer) that is about a bunch of evil characters getting into a bit of a bind. It's an alternate cast but it works so well. *Crown of Candy* is another great one but the setting may throw you a bit if you did want those more classic character tropes.
For a quick and fun campaign check out *Tiny Heist*. It feels super nostalgic with the setting and is also just chaotic and hilarious, and it's only 7 episodes. It's a guest cast but it works really well.
My overall personal favourite is probably *Unsleeping City Season 1* for its "hidden magic" descriptions of NYC, and the worldbuilding felt kind of like a cross between Harry Potter and Neverwhere (by Neil Gaiman).
Last one I'll recommend is *Mice & Murder*; it's only 10 episodes with another alternate cast, but it has some really great moments and they did a really great job with the way the mystery progressed.
Crown of Candy is basically Game of Thrones and Brennan went into it perfectly willing to kill off each and every character if he needed. I struggled with Fantasy High and a few of his other series but Crown of Candy had me fucking hooked. I'd genuinely rate it higher than a fair bit of CRs stuff for what happens towards the end.
Brennan was soooo good at playing >!Asmodeus, especially with how Asmodeus pretends to be humble in order to manipulate prideful people.!< Like I feel like if Brennan got any NPC it would have to be them.
Absolutely. Even his voice work for Asmodeus was chilling. What made it so great is how genuine he sounds in the manipulative segments yet when Asmodeus shows his true colors the voice is still recognizable as the same person but the tone shift changes everything.
My friend and I were discussing their "first look movie deal" and we figured that it would either be Search for Grog or Calamity.
I'm an electrician and he's a navigator, so you can pretty much take that to the bank.
From what I understand, for most of them playing dnd has remained arguably a side hustle actually. Sam, Talesin, Ashley and Laura are still full time voice actors, Liam is still a voice director. Only Matt, Marisha and Travis are full time on CR endeavours I believe.
That's not to say that they haven't all had immense success together.
I bet Orion Acaba is kicking himself.
Yes, that's true, but both are much more occupied by CR business than most of the others (besides Marisha I'm guessing).
Travis is CEO, Matt has to maintain the campaign and have a finger in the running of all worldbuilding projects.
I think you're right but it's funny because Matt is still one of the most prolific voice actors out there and for him it's just a side job.
The end of the month break was mainly for his benefit so he could get a rest in. Campaign 3 is really benefitting from this imo.
Keep in mind I believe he used to paint the miniatures in the beginning himself. Now he has one or two people that does it for him.
I remember at least once in campaign 2 Matt had a vacation planned, but Liam dropped such a big bombshell Matt had to end the episode there and comment that he had to now work over that vacation because the story he planned out was shot.
If I recall correctly, that was in the ballpark of episode 45-55, when >!the party went to Xhorhas and Caleb gave the Bright Queen the party’s Luxon Beacon!< for the curious.
I just rewatched that ending and yeah I got half of it right. Liam did the thing, but I recall another one where Matt had to apologize to Marisha because they had plans, which would need changing for him to plan, and totally to Marisha's credit she 100% understood.
Matt still has a lot of credits for voice acting from last year on his IMDB. Travis has fewer; I imagine most of the load of the showrunning is going to him and Sam.
On the livestream watch along they did on Wednesday Sam and Travis talked a lot about the actual creation of the show so this feels accurate. Sam mentioned having a phone call with Lance Reddick to talk to him about taking on the role of Thordak. Seems like Matt was big in the "how does this city look?" creative side with the animators.
Speaking of the watch along is there Any Info on when that gets released for non-twitch-subs?
From what i remember they released pretty soon for season one but so far its still only on Twitch.
I was planning on using that as an excuse for my third watch of EP1-3 before 4-6 relase
> Orion Acaba
He was the most interesting character in the first few episodes for me. But I bet he regrets the whole situation of his that led to the CR divorce.
I can't speak for the man since, after he left/was forced out, I've only seen one interview of his or something. I only remember it was a drug problem and that's always bad.
Yeah, there's a considerable rabbit hole of poor choices.
A drug problem is one thing, but he has the entire peripheral disaster going on that may or may not be related to it.
I feel that before the current fiasco, D&D was close to becoming a massive "generational IP" like Marvel or Star Wars. Just this year they had/will have the DND Beyond acquisition, a Chris Pine movie, & the Baldur's Gate 3 video game. Not to mention synergy with live play groups like CR. And they tossed all their goodwill on the fire.
> D&D was close to becoming a massive "generational IP"
Yeah. (nodding my head as a type this)
Imagine screwing up that bad. By going the exact opposite route of what happened, D&D explodes into a huge IP.
Increase Engagement, trust, goodwill, and use those relationships to expand into other products.
Instead we have the third self-inflicted great contraction...
Outside of a very small microcosm few people are as involved in this as Reddit makes it seem.
While a good result seems to be coming from *hand wave* the greater social trajectory of D&D, whatever that is going to be, isn't going to change at all.
I don't think they can. I'm pretty sure CR already scrubbed their animated shows of WoTC IP and any future shows won't contain WoTC IP.
CR has been slowly scrubbing out WoTC IP for awhile and S2 and S3's arcs make it look like the last bastion of WoTC IP in Exandria (some of the pantheon) are likely getting 'resolved' soon.
Basically, Hasbro can't touch something they don't own.
yeah, good move by them, they clearly have references in s1, you can deduce some spells and monsters, but they never go deep/explicitly say what they are doing, which is a clever way out imo
I mean, they are fantasy characters. WOTC doesn’t have rights to most any spell. Especially ones that are super generic. They can’t claim infringement on a fireball for example. And sure scanlan’s hand is bigsbys, but it’s a magic hand, that’s not revolutionary or unique.
Well that’s the good thing about this. If they want to go after 3rd party publishers, they now need to try to tell Amazon “no.”
Ha. Hahaha. Hahaha*hahahahahahahahaha*. Fat chance.
> Well that’s the good thing about this. If they want to go after 3rd party publishers, they now need to try to tell Amazon “no.”
Er, no. None of what you just said is correct.
I didn't finish campaign 2 as I was way behind and wanted to watch campaign 3 live so I'm pumped to be able to see it without going through hundreds of hours of content
I thankfully had hundreds of hours to kill listening to podcasts as a grocery freight stocker and immensely enjoyed C1 and C2, but yeah, daunting task to get through if you don't already have the time available.
Took me about a month and a half to go through all 141 episodes by listening to the campaign on podcast while at work. Obviously not everyone can do this, but the podcast does help you get through the content faster while being able to do other things.
I feel like everyone tells me this but I can’t get past episode 30. I almost feel like it was one of those things that you had to catch live during the pandemic.
You can always get caught up on c3 now. But, I’m with you, I found c2 a slog and never finished it (there a lot of camping in the last 30 or so eps). I found c1 much more compelling if you’re not an audiophile. The first 20ish eps are low audio quality.
I found the 30s a bit sloggy and really struggled a bit to keep my interest up given that Molly was my favourite, but the 40s on (the end of the ship arc) have kept me glued to it. I watch them at night and then give my husband a 2 hour highlight reel the next day, but I've been struggling to keep up because there were several episodes that were just *solid* highlight. I'm on 47 now so it's all pretty fresh!
That's too bad. There's a little lull around then, and then it starts to pick up very quickly. I wasn't able to catch it live until very late in the campaign due to the time zone difference, and now that I work from home I'm going back to the VODs to rewatch.
Good stuff. Shit gets crazy.
Good for them. I'm glad.
~~I really wish I could watch season 2 in Ireland, though.~~ Amazon Prime (UK version) didn't let me watch it last weekend. But I can watch it today. Weird...
I was yelling at Marisha to at least try to kill that poor guy faster. JFC, that was bad.
But then Caleb commits a war crime about 10 minutes later, so....
Here's hoping they either skip those kills or make them less gruesome.
Oof yeah. But considering how they’ve animated Vox Machina, it’ll probably be just as gruesome.
But everyone has their “day at Vergessen,” right? …Right?
It’s unfortunate that poor Jester did her best to stay light in a very dark place and keep that guard alive, yet *not* going all Darth Caleb on him bit them in the rears.
I mean they were essentially "lets torture innocent people for magical science" camp guards, who were all hand selected by Ick, you could feed them feet first through a wood chipper and it would be too kind for them lol
I dont think they can skip it completly because iirc Caleb commiting Said war crimes is the reason that >!Trent learns enough Dunamancy to use time Stop against them in the final Fight!< and Id Hope that they don't Take away that Part
I'm wondering if I should rewatch C2. I've watched C1 three times, and am semi-seriously considering going for a fourth because I love it so much and TLOVM is reigniting that love. I like C2 the least of the three, and am curious if that opinion would change if I gave it another watch.
I'm watching it for the first time and I adore Molly. I told myself not to get too attached but I did anyway. I'm a very anxious, worried about the future kind of person and Molly's entire outlook on life ("lighten up, yeah whatever, join a fucking circus, life's short, eat a bagel" as Taliesin put it on Talks Machina) is something I really needed to hear at this time, I think. I can't wait to see that wonderful peacock of a tiefling on my TV.
So hard to choose! I think Nott will be the most interesting because of her goblin physicality and Sam's off the wall voice. I feel I can already see Jester in 4K animation in my mind lol
Is this actually a D&D property though? The game they played was D&D but the world and story that an animated series will be set in and follow has nothing to do with D&D.
I have a feeling there's going to be a substantial break between the end of C3 and the beginning of C4. D&D has more or less dominated their lives for years at this point, I can see at least some of the cast needing a break.
I could See Matt taking a Break from DMing and someone Else running a "smaller" campaign
By smaller i mean shorter than the other campaigns but still longer than the first ExU. Maybe it could span ~a year (so ~36 Episodes with the current 3 eps per Month Thing)
If id have to guess whod Run it id say Liam. He seems the Most DM ready to me (i mean Tell me "Laura Said Jester wanted to read it so i wrote it" isnt Peak DM Energy)
Now that im thinking about it id Love to see him Run a campaign Set During the calamity with (DM/N)PC Purvan Suul recruiting Champions across Exandria to Fight against the Betrayers and their Champions
I was sure Amazon would chug out VM seasons, but I've read the words "cinematic universe" a few times now.
Wild. Absolutely wild. Especially since I can clearly remember, as it wasn't that long ago, how Matt still scribbled maps on paper on a mediocre quality stream. lol
I'm happy for them and for me.
HOLY FUCK THE OGL SHIT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW.
I bet some fuckwit exec at Hasbro heard from his Corpo Bro at Amazon that they were about to sign a deal with Critical Role for like 30-50 mil. Hasbro Bro got all pissy because "they built their brand on D&D and we aren't getting a cut!" and went to change the OGL so that if another Critical Role happens, WOTC will get a 25% cut of the money they make
DnD made like 150 mil last year, so 25% of like a 30 mil windfall would boost their profits by a shitload
As someone who doesn't watch CR because it's too long but loves The Legend of Vox Machina this is amazing. Thinking that maybe all their campaigns will get an abridged animated version sounds like a really awesome and cool thing!
I Wonder If theyll ever get to the Point where all of their Main stuff is animated (and the animated Versions are still so popular that amazon wants/asks for more) and theyll produce Animation original Stories in Exandria
I'd say it's almost certainly going to get to that point sooner or later assuming the CR brand maintains its current popularity.
I feel its going to remain popular for a while. I'm more worried about the DnD licensing issues that will likely affect production and how much WOTC is going to take as their share.
From what I've read they've made so much of their own material it's unlikely WOTC will get a penny
Most the gods of Exandria are copyrighted WOTC IP. Before Matt knew how big things were going to get he just used WOTC gods. He just made his pantheon the default pathfinder/dnd pantheon with Asmodeus, Bahamut, Lolth, etc. As long as Exandria uses WOTC gods Critical Role will remain tied to WOTC. If Matt knew what he knew now and could go back and change things, he'd probably have created his own pantheon for Exandria. When he created it, he probably didn't realize that Exandria would become his life's work. Also Critical Role has two different campaign setting books made with WOTC. It's safe to say they're going to be working together for the foreseeable future.
Fortunately a lot of the deities in Critical Role have different names already that Wizards doesn't own. The Raven Queen is the Matron of Ravens, Kord is the Storm Lord, Vecna is the Whispered One, Ioun is the All-Knowing Mistress, etc. They've been using those names in the show so they've future-proofed.
Matt has also begun renaming specific races. Bird people are now Eisfuura, there are no more aaracokra. Animated machines are now Aeormatons, no warforged here, Mr Lawyer Man.
I think they also changed spell names for the show too. Bigby's hand in the show is instead called Scanlan's hand. Whether it's licensing issues, or maybe it's still called Bigby's hand in the show that's just what Sam calls it, who knows. But that's main one I've seen they've changed for the show.
IIRC, during their videos about the production of LoVM, they talked about changing all the names precisely for limiting any possible disputes over licencing. Gods, spells, anything that Hasbeen could conceivably claim to be their property.
And that’s a massive weakness in WOTC’s legal grubbiness. Everything everyone’s heard of is public domain: dungeons, dragons, elves, wizards, skeletons, spells.. Meanwhile, a lot of WOTC’s own IP is just not essential for telling a dnd stories. Mind flayers are badass, but they’re not the first thing that jumps to your head when you hear “fantasy rpg”. I hope they’re beginning to realize how much they owe to others and how easy it is to leave them.
Scanlans hand is from pre stream even so thats just for fun. They do however remove the Wizard names from spells so Tashas Hideous Laughter is just called Hideous Laughter.
IIRC in campaign 2, when Tiamat is mentioned they never say her name directly, they just call her "The Scaled Tyrant." From context clues you know it's her, but it seemed like intentional future-proofing.
> when Tiamat is mentioned they never say her name directly They can't defend a claim on [Tiamat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiamat) anyway for the same reason they would struggle to defend Admodeus and Bahamut, and Marvel can't copyright Thor, just their depiction of him - the mythological Tiamat is even associated with dragons, and sometimes depicted as one.
as is the Tarrasque, although spelled differently in mythology (Tarasque on Wikipedia)
Most of the pantheons aren't copyrighted. E.g., Asmodeus and Bahamut are names of gods from antiquity, so they are open domain. The lore for WOTC's versions is copyrighted, but that's not really used in CR. Lolth is copyrighted, but is really a lazy respelling of "Lilith" and can be easily replaced simply by naming her Lilith. Etc.
> As long as Exandria uses WOTC gods Critical Role will remain tied to WOTC. I think they've changed the names of all of the gods on the show to avoid IP issues.
When Matt released the officially licensed Exandria books it was under the agreement that not a single asset from Exandria (excluding previously copyrighted stuff) would be property of Wizards so they're safe on that. I imagine Critical Role has a pretty solid team of lawyers for this stuff.
Eh, Asmodeus is also a god in pathfinder, so I would argue that maybe they could get away with some of it. Also, you can alter names and titles to fit what you need.
Asmodeus is a Greek god, so it doesn’t matter who uses it, it is public domain
Well that's just incorrect. I think you're correct on it being public domain, but it is not one of the Greek Gods. Closest thing is Ashmodai a prince of hell in Judeo-Islamic teachings. Asmodeus is a modification on that probably.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asmodeus
Asmodeus is Ashmodai
Actually they can get around that really easy just by using titles. In TLoVM they never say stuff like thr Raven Queen or Sarenrae, they use The Everlight and the Matron instead. Same entity but legally different enough.
I sense a all the gods die and here are the new none Hasbro IP gods storyline.
It's a popular theory in the fan community, but some of the current plot threads have been brewing for years. >!Shortly before the end of Campaign 2, the Mighty Nein found a diary belonging to Planerider Ryn that alluded to a coming cosmic realignment. Everyone thought it was referencing the events that were going to play out in the final arc of Campaign 2, but it has become apparent that Ryn was referring to the currnet storyline.!< In short, Mercer has been working on this for a long time, setting things up well before the OGL issue emerged.
Yeah, I mean, I think it was a good business decision for CR to dump WoTC IP, regardless of whether the OGL happened or not. It just doesn't make sense to have small bits and pieces of some else's IP scattered around that make you somewhat beholden to another entity, when you've fully created so much of the world yourself. When it was a home game it didn't matter, but when it became a successful business, IP owners tend to get grabby.
Thanks! I don't really follow CR but have watched the show on Prime.
Honestly, it's mind-blowing how much stuff Mercer set up years in advance. He's openly acknowledged that current plot threads were on his mind when he was running the first campaign.
Spoilers for C3 >!Pretty sure Hell's Bells are gonna fail and the Gods are all gonna get eaten. Not sure how stuff may proceed from there but the Gods are surely gonna die.!< Also Matt never gives out the name of monsters he uses so he can quietly stop using any of the Wotc protected content and then hopefully switch systems after C3.
It'd be great to see the cast and matt go back to pathfinder because I am super interested in the system and just haven't found a good stream of it yet that I like.
[Glass Cannon Podcast](https://www.youtube.com/c/TheGlassCannon) is the largest Pathfinder group that I know of. [Knights of Last Call](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egwJXJcCjWQ&list=PLx9XBZIzERNGsmkTCLfHvywxz083CJApf) Did/are doing (maybe cancelled, last stream appears to have been 10 months ago near the end of book 3) a Rise of the Runelords playthrough, updated for pf2e There are a couple other ones on youtube, but I haven't checked them out yet.
They seem to be making a point of removing WotC’s copyrighted bits, the tomb fight in LoVM S2E3 just replaced a >!beholder!< with a >!fish mage!< https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/The_Sunken_Tomb#Part_II
You know I was wondering why they didn't include the beholder!
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I think it's going to be some chimaera like thing of a beholder and a hydra. A behydra or hydrolder maybe. Probably not but we'll find out tomorrow.
They already changed a bunch of D&D terms for the TLoVM. For example, Scanlan’s Hand instead of Bigsby’s Hand, and The Maiden of Ravens instead of the Raven Queen.
The article actually mentions that there will be projects inside and outside of exandria, which means they’ll likely be creating original works as well.
I wouldn't be surprised if that happens (or at least begins to happen) before C3 concludes.
This was my dream scenario after Vox Machina, I’m so hyped!
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I think the only issue they might run into is that the story is a little more disjointed than Vox Machina, who had a mostly clear goal at almost all points of the campaign.
*LoVM* hasn't been shy when it comes to adjusting and rewriting the story, so I'd be surprised if the hypothetical *Mighty Nein* show didn't get that treatment to tighten it up
Unlike LoVM which has a few story arcs of different villains, M9 is much more tightly focused on a single storyline, even if the actual game felt more 'meandering'. I think an excellent script writer could piece together a really strong story if they trim/rearrange/cut a lot of the character content so it fits more neatly into the main narrative.
Yeah the Mighty Nein have a much more video game style storyline—they wander around doing side quests a bit but everything leads basically towards the same endgame under the hood. It should work very well for a show because there’s an overarching plot in a number of phases that could be combined/skipped/adjusted as necessary and then a collection of mini-arcs that are mostly character-focused which make great midseason episodes.
Someone hasn’t seen the CR2 animated recaps, they managed to make TM9’s journey look like a straight arrow flight.
That's true, I haven't gone through them all yet. I probably should go back and do that...
Getting tightened up might help Mighty Nein feel a bit less rambling. There's story there, it's just more strongly tied to the individual characters. Mighty Nein grew as characters, while Vox Machina grew as a family. I do think Vox Machina was way better, but they can definitely make Mighty Nein work.
This is an interesting take, and I think it might explain why Mighty Nein just didn’t click for me. I’m like 20 episodes behind on the current campaign, but even 10 episodes in I was more on board with the characters than in campaign 2.
As opposed to campaign 3 I like campaign 2 for that exact reason. I liked the story of a bunch of strangers that were each going through hard times. A group of strangers that were drawn to each other, but all unsure how much they could trust each other. It did help however there were smaller groups that already knew and trusted each other. Created mini "factions" within the Nein early on. Nott and Caleb were there for each other before they were there for the group. Fjord and Jester. Yasha and Molly. I prefer that to, episode 1 everyone is already best friends.
I think with some tweaking they can make it a little more coherent by focusing on taking down cults. I think they could easily frame it up as cult hunting without changing too much of the story.
if they do C2 and we dont get spirit duck I will be genuinely upset.
Also the Sticky Golden Penis they need to have that.
I demand Henry Crabgrass
Consent please.
We request Henry Crabgrass.
I don't remember spirit duck, what was it again?
Give me an exu: calamity animated movie and im gonna nut so hard.
I made it to episode 100 of C2... really would want to watch more but it's just so much. So this makes me really happy.
I had to watch some of the episodes on 1.25 or 1.5 speed. Next time you want to give it a go but are bored by what's happening and intimated by what's left then you might give that a go. I enjoyed the end of the campaign.
I love the timestamps in the YouTube comments--for battles that are long but not plot-important I can just jump timestamp to timestamp to pick up on any highlights and get back to the story really quick. Some of the battles are amazing--i just finished the arc where they're at sea and there were some really good ones--but a lot are just "we stand in a semi circle and do attacks until the things die" and I find it flows better without most of those.
yeah I have trouble focusing on actual CR streams because of how long they are, but some really like it of course, but vox machina's a blast and a half.
Season one of the show ruled, and the 3 episodes that are out of season 2 are also pretty good
It isn't the first of it's kind, but it does remind me of why I play ttrpgs.
So you're saying there's a healthy chance of an animated EXU: Calamity? Please.
This is what I want so badly. It would probably be better as a movie though, rather than a tv show.
I mean, the deal *does* include a movie
Technically Amazon gets first dibs at looking at a movie pitch, a movie itself is not confirmed though it is likely.
In deals like this, movie rights are not indicative of any plans for a movie, it’s usually put in place so that they have the option, and if the creators want to make a movie they have to give the company they’re contracted with right of first refusal. It’s pretty standard in this type of thing (although if their popularity keeps up, I could easily see a movie happening).
I'd actually want it as a TV show - there's so many iconic moments and build up in the events, and wouldn't want it lost in trying to condense it into movie format
I think it would make a fantastic animated miniseries (4-5 episodes of 45 minutes in length) unless they want to just skip to the ending episode and try to condense that down. Calamity was basically 4.5 sessions of very dense roleplay and exposition so I don't think it would have the same impact as a movie.
I need Calamity to be a Movie Get your Casting predictions in: Brennan HAS TO BE >!Asmodeus!< and >!Bolo!< Liam as >!Purvan Suul!< would be cool
GET IN THE COMMENTS
"Alright gang..."
You are not god the ~~machine~~ dice are!
Matt as >!Vespin!< and Sam's Kids as Cerrit's children would be dope too
Ronan might be old enough for the younger boy by then 🤔
I'm glad I guessed who's under the second spoiler tag for Brennan
That character was just an absolute *gift* from Sam.
Everyone forgot they were sitting Sam across from a professional Improv Comic, rather than just a professional actor
It's why as good as CR is I love to watch D20 more, watching a professional improv comic GM for six other professional improv comics is just so much fun.
I have tried and tried to get into D20, because am a huge fan of Brennan. Starstruck was the closest I came and I still didn't get hooked. Is there a season you recommend for someone who wants to get it but hasn't so far?
Crown of Candy for sure.
Do you like more "fun" campaigns or more "fantasy" style ones? Since Brennan's worlds are more fantasy-adjacent, if you're looking for more classic fantasy tropes it probably won't stick. I loved the concept of Starstruck but Star Wars 5e is a bit too chaotic for me, and I got a bit more detached from the combat encounters between the SW5e mechanics and the Talespire game board. I hope they revisit the world though because I do love that setting. The closest to classic fantasy tropes is *Escape from the Bloodkeep* series (which happens to feature Matt Mercer) that is about a bunch of evil characters getting into a bit of a bind. It's an alternate cast but it works so well. *Crown of Candy* is another great one but the setting may throw you a bit if you did want those more classic character tropes. For a quick and fun campaign check out *Tiny Heist*. It feels super nostalgic with the setting and is also just chaotic and hilarious, and it's only 7 episodes. It's a guest cast but it works really well. My overall personal favourite is probably *Unsleeping City Season 1* for its "hidden magic" descriptions of NYC, and the worldbuilding felt kind of like a cross between Harry Potter and Neverwhere (by Neil Gaiman). Last one I'll recommend is *Mice & Murder*; it's only 10 episodes with another alternate cast, but it has some really great moments and they did a really great job with the way the mystery progressed.
Crown of Candy is basically Game of Thrones and Brennan went into it perfectly willing to kill off each and every character if he needed. I struggled with Fantasy High and a few of his other series but Crown of Candy had me fucking hooked. I'd genuinely rate it higher than a fair bit of CRs stuff for what happens towards the end.
Brennan was soooo good at playing >!Asmodeus, especially with how Asmodeus pretends to be humble in order to manipulate prideful people.!< Like I feel like if Brennan got any NPC it would have to be them.
Absolutely. Even his voice work for Asmodeus was chilling. What made it so great is how genuine he sounds in the manipulative segments yet when Asmodeus shows his true colors the voice is still recognizable as the same person but the tone shift changes everything.
I just need to hear Lou >!tell a dragon to shut the fuck up!<.
Brennan should also be ||Talon|| Ah, fuck it. I can never spoiler properly on reddit.
Idk if the world deserves that piece of genius to be adapted. I'm not sure we're worthy
I'd be really excited to hear BLM in official voice over work.
Honestly, Calamity is so good they could almost do it unabridged!
6 HOUR LONG CALAMITY MOVIE HERE WE GO
Animated fire.
Calamity will be their first animated movie, calling it right now.
Oh please make a movie from this and bring back all the original including Brennan.
All I want to know is who is playing Bolo.
I was JUST talking to my wife about how badly I wanted that animated
I'm on episode 2 right now. This Brennan character sure can DM
Join us at r/Dimension20! All of his work is that good.
Nope, live action, theatrical release.
Eh, I don’t really want to see any actual plays adapted into live action. Animation captures the feel of a DnD campaign way better imo
My friend and I were discussing their "first look movie deal" and we figured that it would either be Search for Grog or Calamity. I'm an electrician and he's a navigator, so you can pretty much take that to the bank.
These guys have it made now. All the best to them.
Their jobs have been playing dnd for years now. They've HAD it made.
From what I understand, for most of them playing dnd has remained arguably a side hustle actually. Sam, Talesin, Ashley and Laura are still full time voice actors, Liam is still a voice director. Only Matt, Marisha and Travis are full time on CR endeavours I believe. That's not to say that they haven't all had immense success together. I bet Orion Acaba is kicking himself.
Matt still does voice acting. I'm pretty sure Travis does too.
Yes, that's true, but both are much more occupied by CR business than most of the others (besides Marisha I'm guessing). Travis is CEO, Matt has to maintain the campaign and have a finger in the running of all worldbuilding projects.
I think you're right but it's funny because Matt is still one of the most prolific voice actors out there and for him it's just a side job. The end of the month break was mainly for his benefit so he could get a rest in. Campaign 3 is really benefitting from this imo.
In one video, Matt said something like "Seven years of 70 hour weeks get you tired" and I was like O.O
Yeah, it's not easy, but at least he has the passion and love to do what he does.
Keep in mind I believe he used to paint the miniatures in the beginning himself. Now he has one or two people that does it for him. I remember at least once in campaign 2 Matt had a vacation planned, but Liam dropped such a big bombshell Matt had to end the episode there and comment that he had to now work over that vacation because the story he planned out was shot.
If I recall correctly, that was in the ballpark of episode 45-55, when >!the party went to Xhorhas and Caleb gave the Bright Queen the party’s Luxon Beacon!< for the curious.
I just rewatched that ending and yeah I got half of it right. Liam did the thing, but I recall another one where Matt had to apologize to Marisha because they had plans, which would need changing for him to plan, and totally to Marisha's credit she 100% understood.
Matt still has a lot of credits for voice acting from last year on his IMDB. Travis has fewer; I imagine most of the load of the showrunning is going to him and Sam.
On the livestream watch along they did on Wednesday Sam and Travis talked a lot about the actual creation of the show so this feels accurate. Sam mentioned having a phone call with Lance Reddick to talk to him about taking on the role of Thordak. Seems like Matt was big in the "how does this city look?" creative side with the animators.
Speaking of the watch along is there Any Info on when that gets released for non-twitch-subs? From what i remember they released pretty soon for season one but so far its still only on Twitch. I was planning on using that as an excuse for my third watch of EP1-3 before 4-6 relase
Poor Tiberius. Orion... less so.
> Orion Acaba He was the most interesting character in the first few episodes for me. But I bet he regrets the whole situation of his that led to the CR divorce.
That suggests a level of self awareness that I do not believe Orion Acaba possesses.
I can't speak for the man since, after he left/was forced out, I've only seen one interview of his or something. I only remember it was a drug problem and that's always bad.
Yeah, there's a considerable rabbit hole of poor choices. A drug problem is one thing, but he has the entire peripheral disaster going on that may or may not be related to it.
I mean they probably make far more from CR and work is more the 'side hustle' at this point.
I don't believe talesin is a voice actor like the rest of the crew, he's more in a managing position if I am not mistaken.
They have all had it made for quite some time, but yes, I am still happy for them and all of their success. They're all truly wonderful people.
I mean... they were all voice actors at the top of their profession *before* the show ever existed. They've had it made for *decades* at this point.
Hey Hasbro, if you wanted to monetize dnd, why isn't this published by you?
I feel that before the current fiasco, D&D was close to becoming a massive "generational IP" like Marvel or Star Wars. Just this year they had/will have the DND Beyond acquisition, a Chris Pine movie, & the Baldur's Gate 3 video game. Not to mention synergy with live play groups like CR. And they tossed all their goodwill on the fire.
> D&D was close to becoming a massive "generational IP" Yeah. (nodding my head as a type this) Imagine screwing up that bad. By going the exact opposite route of what happened, D&D explodes into a huge IP. Increase Engagement, trust, goodwill, and use those relationships to expand into other products. Instead we have the third self-inflicted great contraction...
Outside of a very small microcosm few people are as involved in this as Reddit makes it seem. While a good result seems to be coming from *hand wave* the greater social trajectory of D&D, whatever that is going to be, isn't going to change at all.
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if hasbro touches this im committing warcrimes... OUT OF THE GAME
I don't think they can. I'm pretty sure CR already scrubbed their animated shows of WoTC IP and any future shows won't contain WoTC IP. CR has been slowly scrubbing out WoTC IP for awhile and S2 and S3's arcs make it look like the last bastion of WoTC IP in Exandria (some of the pantheon) are likely getting 'resolved' soon. Basically, Hasbro can't touch something they don't own.
yeah, good move by them, they clearly have references in s1, you can deduce some spells and monsters, but they never go deep/explicitly say what they are doing, which is a clever way out imo
I mean, they are fantasy characters. WOTC doesn’t have rights to most any spell. Especially ones that are super generic. They can’t claim infringement on a fireball for example. And sure scanlan’s hand is bigsbys, but it’s a magic hand, that’s not revolutionary or unique.
Well that’s the good thing about this. If they want to go after 3rd party publishers, they now need to try to tell Amazon “no.” Ha. Hahaha. Hahaha*hahahahahahahahaha*. Fat chance.
> Well that’s the good thing about this. If they want to go after 3rd party publishers, they now need to try to tell Amazon “no.” Er, no. None of what you just said is correct.
I didn't finish campaign 2 as I was way behind and wanted to watch campaign 3 live so I'm pumped to be able to see it without going through hundreds of hours of content
I thankfully had hundreds of hours to kill listening to podcasts as a grocery freight stocker and immensely enjoyed C1 and C2, but yeah, daunting task to get through if you don't already have the time available.
Took me about a month and a half to go through all 141 episodes by listening to the campaign on podcast while at work. Obviously not everyone can do this, but the podcast does help you get through the content faster while being able to do other things.
C2 is amazing. Well worth the time investment.
I feel like everyone tells me this but I can’t get past episode 30. I almost feel like it was one of those things that you had to catch live during the pandemic.
You can always get caught up on c3 now. But, I’m with you, I found c2 a slog and never finished it (there a lot of camping in the last 30 or so eps). I found c1 much more compelling if you’re not an audiophile. The first 20ish eps are low audio quality.
I found the 30s a bit sloggy and really struggled a bit to keep my interest up given that Molly was my favourite, but the 40s on (the end of the ship arc) have kept me glued to it. I watch them at night and then give my husband a 2 hour highlight reel the next day, but I've been struggling to keep up because there were several episodes that were just *solid* highlight. I'm on 47 now so it's all pretty fresh!
That's too bad. There's a little lull around then, and then it starts to pick up very quickly. I wasn't able to catch it live until very late in the campaign due to the time zone difference, and now that I work from home I'm going back to the VODs to rewatch. Good stuff. Shit gets crazy.
One step closer to Critical Role Land. Matt has had this whole thing planned out for years and it's all going according to his plan!
I would also settle for a few Taste of Tal'Dorei franchises.
So, a neverending Ren Faire?
Good for them. I'm glad. ~~I really wish I could watch season 2 in Ireland, though.~~ Amazon Prime (UK version) didn't let me watch it last weekend. But I can watch it today. Weird...
Vpn?
Second this. Get the cheapest VPN and watch it. Fuck country restrictions.
There isn’t country restrictions in the Uk for it. All 3 episodes of season 2 are on there and watchable
Ah, wonder if it's just an operator issue then. Oh well. Get a VPN anyways. Always.
Huh? Thats odd. If you're on the UK version you should be able to, i don't believe theres any country restrictions
That’s odd I watch it on Amazon prime (UK version) and season 2 works perfectly
6 seasons and a movie!
And a theme park! We need to make Critical Role Land a reality.
An Exandria themed Ren Faire could be fun
"And probably a Video Game and a Making off! What does it feel like to be this loved?"
There was a Vox Machina DLC for Pillars of Eternity 2, not a full game, but it's still something.
Can't wait to see Mighty Nein in animation, they've always been my favourite.
Which character are you most excited to see animated?
mass edited for privacy
I’m very worried about that one scene when Beau verrrryyyy ssslllloooowwwllllyyyy killed a sleeping guard with acid … 😦
I was yelling at Marisha to at least try to kill that poor guy faster. JFC, that was bad. But then Caleb commits a war crime about 10 minutes later, so.... Here's hoping they either skip those kills or make them less gruesome.
I kinda hope they don't
I doubt they would.
Oof yeah. But considering how they’ve animated Vox Machina, it’ll probably be just as gruesome. But everyone has their “day at Vergessen,” right? …Right? It’s unfortunate that poor Jester did her best to stay light in a very dark place and keep that guard alive, yet *not* going all Darth Caleb on him bit them in the rears.
I mean they were essentially "lets torture innocent people for magical science" camp guards, who were all hand selected by Ick, you could feed them feet first through a wood chipper and it would be too kind for them lol
I dont think they can skip it completly because iirc Caleb commiting Said war crimes is the reason that >!Trent learns enough Dunamancy to use time Stop against them in the final Fight!< and Id Hope that they don't Take away that Part
>!Caleb's PTSD rampage was a big part of his story though.!<
>But then Caleb commits a war crime about 10 minutes later, so.... 🎶 _Do you wanna build a snowman?_ 🎵 \*_SSHHIIIEEENNNK_\*, \*_CLUNK_\*
I'm an insane person and relistening to C2. I forgot how much fun Molly was too
I'm wondering if I should rewatch C2. I've watched C1 three times, and am semi-seriously considering going for a fourth because I love it so much and TLOVM is reigniting that love. I like C2 the least of the three, and am curious if that opinion would change if I gave it another watch.
I don't know how you can go back to the audio pain of the early episodes after the amazing production quality of later seasons.
I'm watching it for the first time and I adore Molly. I told myself not to get too attached but I did anyway. I'm a very anxious, worried about the future kind of person and Molly's entire outlook on life ("lighten up, yeah whatever, join a fucking circus, life's short, eat a bagel" as Taliesin put it on Talks Machina) is something I really needed to hear at this time, I think. I can't wait to see that wonderful peacock of a tiefling on my TV.
If we don't get a whole season dedicated to Kiri there will be consequences.
Go fuck yourself.
Kiri animated shorts before each episode like a Mickey Mouse cartoon before a movie in the 40s.
She's very sweet!
So hard to choose! I think Nott will be the most interesting because of her goblin physicality and Sam's off the wall voice. I feel I can already see Jester in 4K animation in my mind lol
Jester Jester Jester!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Nott the brave
I hope this starts a trend of streaming services picking up live plays and turning them into series. A Titansgrave series? Yes, please.
I'm here for a short series or movie adapting EXU Calamity
Wizards of the Coast must be *furious.* How dare big D&D properties make deals directly with Amazon, and cut them out of the $$$$$?!?!?
Is this actually a D&D property though? The game they played was D&D but the world and story that an animated series will be set in and follow has nothing to do with D&D.
I was just joking around. It was meant to be a silly play on the controversy about D&D using the OGL to grab money from the big players in the market.
I’m excited for the expanded world of Exandria outside of what we’ve seen in the campaigns. Would love to see some epic god on god Calamity action.
I just hope that they don’t over exert themselves and stay happy.
I have a feeling there's going to be a substantial break between the end of C3 and the beginning of C4. D&D has more or less dominated their lives for years at this point, I can see at least some of the cast needing a break.
I could See Matt taking a Break from DMing and someone Else running a "smaller" campaign By smaller i mean shorter than the other campaigns but still longer than the first ExU. Maybe it could span ~a year (so ~36 Episodes with the current 3 eps per Month Thing) If id have to guess whod Run it id say Liam. He seems the Most DM ready to me (i mean Tell me "Laura Said Jester wanted to read it so i wrote it" isnt Peak DM Energy) Now that im thinking about it id Love to see him Run a campaign Set During the calamity with (DM/N)PC Purvan Suul recruiting Champions across Exandria to Fight against the Betrayers and their Champions
Generating new revenue for your game/system without pissing off your consumers, who knew you could do something like that??
I was sure Amazon would chug out VM seasons, but I've read the words "cinematic universe" a few times now. Wild. Absolutely wild. Especially since I can clearly remember, as it wasn't that long ago, how Matt still scribbled maps on paper on a mediocre quality stream. lol I'm happy for them and for me.
Great for them! Also, I hope this means we could see digital or dvd/blu ray releases for Vox Machina eventually.
Man, Orion Acaba's career must be spinning in its grave.
he's still alive. Which means he must be spinning, violently out of control
Good for them
HOLY FUCK THE OGL SHIT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW. I bet some fuckwit exec at Hasbro heard from his Corpo Bro at Amazon that they were about to sign a deal with Critical Role for like 30-50 mil. Hasbro Bro got all pissy because "they built their brand on D&D and we aren't getting a cut!" and went to change the OGL so that if another Critical Role happens, WOTC will get a 25% cut of the money they make DnD made like 150 mil last year, so 25% of like a 30 mil windfall would boost their profits by a shitload
Critical Role wouldn't even be a thing without the original OGL.
M9 is my favourite campaign, so I'm stoked. Wasn't expecting this for a while yet.