Quarantine has been tough for everyone. No industry was left unaffected by the crisis, not even streamers like Critical Role. When the shelter-at-home orders went into effect, Marisha Ray—creative director and cast member of the show—announced that the popular Dungeons & Dragons stream would be put on hold. Since then, the team rolled out an all-new line-up of content for Critical Role fans.
Critical Role’s New Line-Up
- Narrative Telephone: A recorded video variant of the game of telephone reformated for 2020, starring the cast Critical Role. The show launched last month.
- Yee-Haw Off the Ranch: We’ve all heard of Yee-Haw Game Ranch, which stars Brian Foster and Travis Willingham; Yee-Haw Off the Ranch is the socially distanced version of it. The new show features Ashley Johnson and Brian Foster. “It’s a video game ‘let’s play’ show, but we are suckers for anything absurd and ridiculous. We thought how can we make this ridiculous and absurd,” Ray said.
- Critter Hug: This show is designed specifically with fan service in mind. Matthew Mercer and Mica Burton are the hosts of the show, which focuses on “spotlighting artists, developers, businesses and others” from the world of tabletop gaming. Critical Role announced this show before the pandemic hit. The content is relevant, featuring the challenges tabletop gaming faces with isolated players, distressed game shops, and the shortage of game pieces from China.
- All Work No Play: Unplugged: All Work No Play—featuring Sam Riegel and Liam O’Brien— started before the pandemic. The new Unplugged version is a callback to the older version. The two chat with each other and guests and compare notes on their lives in quarantine.
- Mighty Vibes: A “beats to relax to” show with animation from Kamille Areopagita.
With such a varied set of shows, it’s no wonder that Critical Role has no problem maintaining popularity in this new era of entertainment. They also reported at least one other new show in development, and if it is as good as these others, it will be lots of fun, too.