Curious Beginnings

is the first episode of the first chapter of the second campaign for Critical Role.

Pre-Show

 * This is the first game of Critical Role's new campaign of Dungeons & Dragons. New viewers were welcomed, as a record-breaking 120,000+ people watched the episode live.

Announcements

 * Critical Role had two sponsors for this episode:
 * D&D Beyond: an online tool for Dungeons & Dragons. Critical Role has started using it for their characters and campaign, and D&D Beyond will be a long-term partner.  Critical Role content, such as the Blood Hunter class, can now be activated on D&D Beyond.  Also, there is a one-time discount of $10 off any digital book in the D&D Beyond marketplace if you use the codeword "beginnings".
 * Sam Riegel...no, it's Backblaze: unlimited cloud back-ups for Mac and PC. Sam wrote the sponsor ad way back in mid-December, so it feels a little stale.  It is a Backblaze-themed "The Night Before Christmas" ("The Night Before Critmas"), complete with Sam in a Santa Claus hat.  You can get 15 days free if you go to backblaze.com/criticalrole.


 * Wyrmwood Gaming, in addition to providing new dice boxes for the new campaign, made a new gaming table. It is made of English brown oak, with the Critical Role logo as an inlay.  It was built by hand in their Massachusetts office, and involved over 100 man-hours to finish.  The Geek & Sundry studio smells like wood now.  Sam jokes that when the show gets canceled, it will make a great dining room table.
 * merch update from Laura: The 1980s parody ad used as a teaser for the new campaign (by popular demand) is now a poster available for purchase in the Geek & Sundry store. All the ladies go crazy about Matthew Mercer's outfit, much to Matt's embarrassment.
 * Laura reminds the other players that there are many first-time viewers who haven't seen or haven't finished the previous campaign. So NO SPOILERS about the Vox Machina campaign!
 * All of the episodes of the Vox Machina campaign are now available on the Critical Role Podcast. Podcast episodes for the new campaign will be released one week after the original airdate.  For example, "Curious Beginnings" aired live on January 11, 2018, so the podcast episode will be available on January 18, 2018.
 * "Vox Machina: Origins" #4 (the fourth issue of the Critical Role comic book) is coming out on January 24, 2018. Liam has already read it and it is so good.  It is available for digital download on Comixology, the Dark Horse Comics app, and wherever digital comics are sold.
 * Matthew Mercer will be at Paradise City Comic Con in Miami, Florida on January 12-14, 2018. He will also be at Lexington Comic and Toy Con in Lexington, Kentucky on March 9-11, 2018; Otafest in Calgary, Alberta on May 18-20, 2018; and A-Kon in Fort Worth, Texas on June 7-10, 2018.
 * Laura Bailey and Travis Willingham will be at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, Washington on March 2-4, 2018.
 * The cast wants to renew their appreciation and support for 826LA: a really amazing charity that does after-school creative writing and great creative classes for children who are underprivileged and/or lack opportunities to attend these types of classes. Thanks to 826LA for being such an amazing source of creative drive for so many kids.  Matthew Mercer asks the Critters to double down on that support and show 826LA the same appreciation, if they can.
 * Thank you to Ian Phillips of Iron Tusk Painting, who painted the miniatures for the new campaign. He also painted the cake toppers for Matt and Marisha's wedding.  Ashley Johnson grew up with Ian (he was best friends with one of Ashley's brothers), and they reconnected on Instagram when Ian's name was being floated around to create the minis for the new campaign.
 * Thank you to Warner Bros./Monolith Entertainment and CD Projekt Red for allowing Critical Role to incorporate music from the soundtracks for "Middle-earth: Shadow of War" and "The Witcher III: Wild Hunt" (respectively) into the new campaign. Matthew Mercer had originally used music from The Witcher in the Pre-Stream, back when Critical Role was still a home game played with Pathfinder.
 * Marisha Ray announces Critical Role's brand-new opening title sequence, which is then played.

Previously on Critical Role
"Welcome to Wildemount. The year is [835] PD, or 'Post-Divergence'.  This continent is divided by both jagged terrain and political powers.  The Menagerie Coast - a collection of city-states united under the Clovis Concord - monopolizes the southwestern shores and ports of Wildemount, thriving on open trade and cultural freedom.  "

New

 * Caleb Widogast
 * Nott
 * Jester
 * Beauregard
 * Fjord
 * Mollymauk
 * Yasha
 * Yorba
 * Adeline
 * Reynaldo
 * Gustav
 * Sir Flynn

Trivia
Matt misstated the year of the campaign as "335 PD" in his intro.