#CRITICAL ROLE CHROMA CONCLAVE SERIES#

It was a real “Is this real?” type of a moment, that first time in the booth. And we were being voice directed by Mary McGlynn, one of our oldest friends. “We were all together in a booth recording a show that we created and helped write and get to do the voices for and get to help produce. “It was a very pinch ourselves type of a moment,” says Sam Riegal, the voice of rakish gnome bard Scanlan. Going forward, recording together looks like it’s going to be more of a regular thing, but the actors say there will always be something really special about that first ever everyone-together recording session. When possible, the cast recorded in pairs or trios, able to feed off each other’s energy and try to replicate the experience of being at the table and making it all up the first time around. While the first-ever session for Vox Machina was recorded in person, much of the recording for season one had to be done remotely due to the pandemic. This is kind of taking what was old and making it new again.” We get to re-embrace where it all started for a lot of these friendships that have now become inseparable bonds and breathe new life to them, and pay homage and accurately represent what happened in a lot of ways and then surprise, even ourselves and others and hopefully the audience.

And now we get to kind of slip back into those old comfortable outfits. “There’s this facet of these characters that we love so much and lived with for many years, many years ago. “It’s like going home on vacation to visit your family,” explains Mercer. Still, there is a special place in their hearts for the characters who started it all, even if recording in a booth with a script is different from improvising at the table. When it comes to the actual web series, the cast now plays a new set of characters dealing with a new set of threats (though their OGs do make the occasional cameo appearance). “We get to make some elements of combat that sometimes the dice don’t get to make as cool at the table be that much more cinematic and dynamic and exciting for this series,” says Mercer. That’s not the only tweak that comes with showdowns. Now we get to see the dragons’ behind-the-scenes machinations, which make the epic battles all the more exciting. In the show, though, while he does reprise the role of ancient dragon Umbrasyl, the other dragons are voiced by Cree Summers, Lance Reddick, and Liam O’Brien (who is also the player and voice behind half-elf rogue Vax’ildan). Dungeon Master Matt Mercer was particularly excited to see that aspect of the show come to life, since, as Dungeon Master, he played all the dragons of the Chroma Conclave.

#CRITICAL ROLE CHROMA CONCLAVE SERIES#

The animated series not only gives the actors a chance to dive into more of their characters’ backstories and explore dynamics that weren’t present at the table, but it also takes the show outside the storytellers’ POV, allowing viewers to see the villains conniving and plotting their own schemes. This season’s third episode, for instance, “The Sunken Tomb” follows the plot points of one of the web series episodes that Johnson couldn’t attend now when a trap triggers in the eerie underwater temple and kills half-elf ranger Vex’ahlia (Laura Bailey), Pike rushes to her side to try and revive her - a moment notably absent from the original run. Thanks to the animated series, the actors were able to rewrite history a bit and bring Pike into the fold for those scenes.

Image: Prime Videoĭue to real-life scheduling conflicts, Johnson was absent for some pivotal moments. “The scenes that I love are the moments that I didn’t get to be there in the actual campaign,” adds Ashley Johnson, who voices compassionate gnomish cleric Pike Trickfoot.

So through flashbacks, and just really great cold opens, we’re able to see kind of a peek behind that curtain.” “So there were a lot of character building and backstory moments that the audience never saw. “ been playing as a group for two and a half years before we decided to take it to the stream,” says Marisha Ray, voice of half-elf druid Keyleth. This time, however, they had a chance to rewrite history and make some tweaks to the way it unfolded the first time around. But with Prime Video’s animated fantasy series, The Legend of Vox Machina, the voice actors return to where it all started, with their first group of misfit mercenaries from the very first campaign. Since the web series kicked off in 2012, actual-play phenomena Critical Role has expanded the world of Exandria, with each subsequent campaign taking place later on in the world’s history.

Critical role chroma conclave