Matthew Mercer, DM of Critical Role, teased yesterday that the team is working on coming up with more stretch goals and, with the length of the animated special, they may need to make some alternate plans.
"We are frantically developing the next stretch goals as we speak. Looks like this animated special may mutate into a series," Mercer wrote on Twitter. Update #2: As of 5:45 p.m. PT, the Critical Role Kickstarter campaign has surpassed yet another milestone.
The Legend of Vox Machina animated special Kickstarter has raised over $3.1 million as of this update. Having hit two more stretch goals since the last update, 44 minutes of additional animation for a total of 88 has been added to the special. Additionally, all backers at the $100 and $200 levels and above will receive updated rewards, while a Vox Machina and Mighty Nein crossover one-shot has been confirmed. (Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein are the two campaigns Critical Role has done, with the latter still ongoing.)
Matt Mercer, Travis Willingham, and Marish Ray of Critical Role will be hosting a livestream at 7 p.m. PT to answer questions regarding the Kickstarter campaign. The latest update to the Kickstarter promises more info to come. Update: Critical Role's Kickstarter for The Legend of Vox Machina animated special has already surpassed the $2 million mark, more than tripling its original goal of $750,000.
As of press time, the Kickstarter is hovering around the $2.4 million mark. It has already surpassed three stretch goals for $1, $1.5, and $2 million. Those goals add an additional 22 minutes of animation, two more one-shot campaigns featuring the Vox Machina cast, and additional rewards for backers at the $20 and $100 tiers.When the campaign hits its $2.5 million goal, an additional 22 minutes of animation will be added to the special. Another stretch goal with a currently unannounced amount will add another 22 minutes.
Original story follows:Critical Role, the long-running, livestreamed Dungeons and Dragons game featuring voice actors from Marvel's Spider-Man, The Last of Us, and more, has seen its new Kickstarter for an animated special fully funded in under an hour.
The Kickstarter for Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina Animated Special has reached its goal of $750,000 in under an hour of the campaign launching today, March 4. It actually passed over $1,000,000 raised in under an hour, with close to 8,000 backers having contributed as of press time. Stretch goals are currently listed on the Kickstarter page, with the first already hit at $1 million, but the necessary fundraising amounts for the rest have not yet been revealed.
The animated series will be produced by Titmouse, the production company behind Netflix's Big Mouth, and written by Star Wars: Forces of Destiny's Jennifer Muro.
Critical Role is a weekly D&D game, both livestreamed and available as an audio podcast, featuring a number of recognizable voices from video games and animated series. Matthew Mercer serves as DM for the game, while Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Liam O'Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham are players in the ongoing game.
The Vox Machina animated special is based on Critical Role's first campaign, which featured the cast in the following roles:
- Pike Trickfoot (gnome cleric, Ashley Johnson)
- Keyleth (half-elf druid, Marisha Ray)
- Percival “Percy” Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III (human gunslinger, Taliesin Jaffe)
- Grog Strongjaw (goliath barbarian, Travis Willingham)
- Scanlan Shorthalt (gnome bard, Sam Riegel)
- Vex’ahlia (half-elf ranger, Laura Bailey)
- Vax’ildan (half-elf rogue, Liam O’Brien)
The animated special is planned for a release sometime in Fall 2020, with rewards being shipped out in Spring 2020. Though, with stretch goals related to increasing the length of the special, it's unclear if that will cause any delays or changes to the release schedule.
New episodes of Critical Role air every Thursday on Twitch. Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's News Editor and Critical Role fan, who has his girlfriend to thank for getting him into the series. Talk to him about it and his current water genasi D&D character on Twitter @jmdornbush.
