Critical Role – the world’s most popular Dungeons and Dragons actual play show – is running another livestreamed comedy one-shot for charity in November “where you call the shots”: everything from the key story beats to the cast members and celebrity guests’ character classes is being chosen by donor polls.
Raising money for global anti-poverty charity Comic Relief and its famous Red Nose Day appeal, the DnD one shot was announced on Wednesday, and will air on Thursday November 28, at 5pm PT / 8pm ET / midnight GMT.
And donors to the fundraiser get the chance to vote in polls that’ll decide not just various aspects of the evening’s Dungeons and Dragons story, but which DnD classes each cast member will play. The appeal’s already raised around $7,000 of its $10k target in just the first day, so the omens are good.
According to Wednesday’s announcement, the show will feature everyone’s favorite GM Matt Mercer alongside fun-time celebrity guests Tony Hale (Gary Walsh in Veep; Buster Bluth in Arrested Development) and Sam Richardson (Richard Splett in Veep).
DnD and Critical Role fans who’ve never partaken in Veep nor Arrested Development may well still recognise Hale’s voice, as he’s also in the Legend of Vox Machina cast – he played the elf Sir Fince in the Tal’Dorei Council.
They’ll be helped along the path by regular Critical Role cast members Taliesin Jaffe, Laura Bailey, and Liam O’Brien – and, unlike previous such one shots, the stream will be shot at Critical Role’s own studio in Los Angeles, California.
True to the comedy theme of Red Nose Day, CR says the adventure will be a “fateful journey of high-adventure and absolute absurdity” following a “troupe of unlikely allies” through the “enigmatic islands of the Shattered Teeth”.
The Teeth are a remote location in CR’s own invented DnD setting of Exandria, explored in their own semi-official sourcebook (which just so happens to be available to buy at a discount just now).
If you donate at least $1 to Critical Role’s Red Nose Day appeal via Tiltify, you’ll be able to vote in polls that’ll decide a bunch of key aspects of the adventure, including the characters’ classes, and big story questions like:
- What event is happening at the start of the game?
- Who’s stalking the players as they venture forth?
- What twisted magical treasure will find them?
- What does one of the players secretly carry?
We don’t want to spoil the options on offer in the poll – Comic Relief is a very worthy cause and, if you want to find them out, you can donate here. But, if the votes continue as they are, you’ll find some romantic encounters, ghosts, and magical equestrian equipment involved.
It’s the third time CR (via its charitable fund the Critical Role Foundation) has run such a fundraising one-shot with Red Nose Day. In 2022 the team roped in Late Show host and notorious ultra-nerd Stephen Colbert for an adventure titled ‘Dignity’ – if you want a taste of that, watch the VOD below.
Elsewhere in DnD news, you can now get an adorable DnD Dragon tree ornament based on the chunky boi Themberchaud in the 2023 DnD movie.
You should also check out our Planescape 5e review and our full guide to the Deck of Many Things – the subject of the next new DnD book.