Polls closed yesterday on Critical Role’s character build for their new The Legend of Vox Machina animated series. Following the closure of the polls was a one-hour session with cast members Sam Riegel, Travis Willingham, and Liam O’Brien as they revealed the results, allowed input from the chat on other character aspects, and talked with some of the production team.
The animated series will follow the famous Briarwood arc from Campaign One of Critical Role. After a highly successful $11+ Million Kickstarter, the cast and crew are excited to give back to the fans as much as possible. One way was through a collaborative build of a tavern keeper character. The poll results revealed that the tavern keeper would be a middle-aged, Chaotic Good, non-binary Changling Bard.
This wild collective of traits was then expanded upon through prompts by Sam and Travis. The chat poured in too many suggestions for them all to be read during the show. Some ideas that intrigued them were tattoo sleeves, a mullet, a and nosering. They were amused by the suggestion that this tavern-keeper is afraid of birds. Some ideas were tossed around as to what instrument, if any, the character would play. They stayed away from accent questions because the voice actor has not yet been cast for the role.
They chatted with some of the production team behind the animated studio, Titmouse, that will be taking on the project including Titmouse Founder and President Chris Prynoski, Supervising Director Sung Jin Ahn, and Art Director Arthur Loftis. They discussed the challenges of animation and the benefit of working with a world that is already so fully fleshed out. There was some live drawing for the audience, and the reveal that the character design from the trailer would change slightly based upon the increased budget.
It was a nice check-in for fans to see some behind the scenes of the process. The cast and crew of Critical Role are highly connected to their fans and this is another in a long line of updates and sneak peeks everyone will get before the actual animated series begins.