The epic second D&D campaign from Critical Role is ending this week. Has it been worth the investment?
Critical Role has trailblazed an all new way for long-form storytelling to be enjoyed through their weekly Dungeons & Dragons game. While they have branched off as their own independent media company to launch board games, products, comics, and books, at their heart is still the driving investment in their D&D stories.
The first campaign that followed the heroes known as Vox Machina earned tremendous success and brought Critical Role to where it is now. The second campaign follows the group known a the Mighty Nein and began on January 11th, 2018. And now, at character level 15, the second campaign comes to close on June 3rd, 2021.
It has definitely been an interesting time to host a D&D campaign. For awhile in 2020 production ceased entirely for COVID-19 guidelines. And when it picked back up it was in an pre-recorded and socially-distant setting, as opposed to their usual live, “group around a table” vibe.
With the solid announcement that the campaign is closing and the final, long epilogue is airing soon, it has left many fans divided. Some have said this is a perfect ending and they enjoyed this campaign even more than the first. Others have expressed disappointment at seemingly open-ended plotlines or the overall direction the final villain went. With a promised many-hour final episode, it leaves many wondering if all the threads will tie up in a nice fashion. Or if there will be some questions never answered, and some wrongs never righted.
The Mighty Nein has had their share of wild adventures over the course of the campaign. It has been 530+ hours of cult destroying, dungeon delving, and conspiracy uprooting across the world of Exandria. Their cast of characters includes complicated fire-bending wizard Caleb, upbeat prankster cleric Jester, the conflicted and silver-tongued paladin/warlock Fjord, badass maternal rogue Veth, the stoic barbarian Yasha, the hit-first-ask-second monk Beauregard, and the calm and insightful cleric Caduceus.
The story has seen the group traveling the world during a dangerous wartime to achieve their own ends. They grew from a ragtag group that only worked for money, to heroes willing to die for their cause.
No matter what your stance is on the way the story is ending, soon any final questions will be answered, or unanswered, in the final episode! It airs this Thursday, June 3 2021 at 7PM PST simultaneously on Twitch (twitch.tv/criticalrole) and YouTube (youtube.com/criticalrole), with the replayable VOD of the show available on Critical Role’s YouTube channel the following Monday.
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