San Diego Comic-Con 2022: Q&A Panel

is the Critical Role panel at the 2022 San Diego Comic-Con. It was filmed on Saturday, July 23, 2022 at San Diego Convention Center in front of a live audience for the first time in nearly three years.

Intro
The group is introduced by Christian Navarro; everyone is present except Sam Riegel, who is at a family reunion. Liam asks anyone in cosplay to stand up.

(From Jillian) Has there ever been a scene for any of you that you really wanted to play out but it just didn't happen?
Liam, Laura, and Ashley say that yes, there have been, all the time. Matt says that he does keep in mind unresolved threads for future reference.

===(From Kristy) How many of the references to Vox Machina (Orym being a member of the Ashari; Laudna being a Sun Tree effigy) were due to missing Campaign 1 and how many were due to working on the Legend of Vox Machina concurrently with character development?===
 * Marisha: Some of it is just that they've spent so long in the world now, and there's so much material from past campaigns that could use more exploring, and this is the first time they've had the opportunity to do so.
 * Liam: Orym is a character he's had in mind for a long time, and set him up with Derrig

(From Christian) What is it like playing in Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, which is set in the same world but centuries prior to the timeline of the campaigns?
While Matt wasn't in Calamity, it was so wonderful for him to see Brennan Lee Mulligan and Aabria Iyengar create their own stories in Exandria.

(From Christian) Percy originated in a script (per Taliesin's Between the Sheets interview); how did that compare with how he is depicted, scripted, in The Legend of Vox Machina?
Taliesin says the original script was much less good, and that it's incredible to see Percy as an animated character.

(From Cameron) Matt: Do you have any NPCs that didn't see the light of day that you really wanted to?
Definitely, but he usually manages to reuse NPCs who aren't discovered when expected later on. A lot of NPCs are also based in characters Matt would like to play as PCs but doesn't have the opportunity to do so. Fortunately, he does love GM-ing more than playing as a PC.

(From Kat) Liam: When it comes to Caleb, his past and his trauma, what thought processes and ideas went into how Caleb would react to his trauma when faced with it?
Liam did want to explore that aspect of the human experience when creating Caleb, and ultimately the takeaway is that people are both flawed and affected by their pasts, but can do incredible things even as those experiences continue to impact them.

(From Jordan) If you were to ever take Critical Role to live action, be that through TV series or movies, who would you cast as one of your characters?

 * Marisha: The general actor response is going to be "well, obviously, me." However, she did have Stephanie Beatriz in mind for Beau, so it was surreal when Stephanie was cast as Kima.
 * Travis: Sam, as the casting director of the group, probably has far more thoughts about this than anyone else.
 * Taliesin: Hugh Dancy was someone he always thought of for Percy, because he's sad.
 * Christian jokes that he could do Scanlan's Hand
 * Liam: Domhnall Gleeson for Caleb.
 * Matt: Seth Rogen for Pumat Sol.
 * Ashley: Amy Sedaris for Pike.
 * Travis: Danny DeVito for Chetney.
 * Laura: Rachel McAdams for Jester.

(From Madison) Are there any NPCs you would like your campaign three character to meet from previous campaigns?

 * Ashley: Victor - he and Fearne would be very fun.
 * Matt points out that Victor did blow up during the attack on Vasselheim.
 * Laura: Gilmore would always be welcome.

(From Christian) Laura, What would Trinket think of Little Mister?

 * Marisha and Taliesin disagree on whether they'd get along or not.
 * Laura: Trinket would be on the older side so probably he'd be kind of grumpy and irritated.
 * Ashley: Mister is a bit of an asshole.

Is there any time that you felt that there was a DM like Matt ruling over your lives?

 * Liam: Sometimes...life can be unreal.
 * Matt: Not really; to quote Artagan, everything is chaos.

(From Allie) Liam, what's one of those profound moments from Campaign Two that still resonates with you today?
Liam was surprised by his choice in to not time travel, and by how deeply he was affected by Caleb saying goodbye to his parents.

(From Ally) Who enjoys the custom character class creation more, Taliesin or Matt?

 * Matt: Building the classes is fun but putting them online in the public view for criticism can be nerve-wracking. Taliesin sent him a pretty good base for Ashton's Path of Fundamental Chaos though!

(From Vaclav) Travis, which DM scared you more, Matt or Brennan?
Travis points out that both crossed over the GM screen, which seems against the rules. Brennan came further, and his expressions were scarier, but Matt wins on the strength of his terrifying noises.

(From Ren) Taliesin, What is your favorite design element that you've added to any of your characters?
Ashton is his favorite because the inspiration was very modern, so it took some creative work to make it fit the setting. The materials (leather) and the buckles do a lot of that work.

(From Bren) Taliesin, how would Molly have responded to Veth's story of waking up in an unfamiliar body?
Taliesin has been working more on fleshing out Molly's backstory in preparation for the Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins comics. Anyway, he'd have found Veth's choice to return to her family boring, but would have supported her.

(From Chris) Travis, what's your favorite part when you played Grog?

 * Travis felt it was really fun playing a character with no filter, which is a trait Grog somewhat shares with Chetney. He also found Grog's low intelligence helpful, because if he, the new D&D player, made a mistake, it was easy to attribute to Grog's lack of intelligence.
 * Marisha agrees that it can be really freeing to have a character that doesn't have to think as much.

===(From Emma) Matt and Marisha, as a character who personally knew The Raven Queen as immortal, and then seeing how she has evolved into this modern Campaign Three, where there's even cultures of her that interpret her differently, what is that like seeing the world change and evolve, especially with such a God that was mortal?===
 * Marisha found Calamity to be very fun because the concept of the Calamity had been around in the story for so long, but always felt very far off. The fact that the Raven Queen's ascension was so recent really did influence how she played Patia and how the others played their characters, because it inflamed the Age of Arcanum hubris and ambition, to know that godhood was technically within reach.
 * Matt likes exploring the dichotomy between gods and mortals, and the Raven Queen blurs those lines and has an ongoing influence in Exandria about how faith is scene, which he hopes to explore more.

(From Sherry) For good or bad, what are some of your most memorable ad bits?

 * Laura: while it's not memorable in a good way, the ones in which Sam has eaten a bunch of gross items or made disgusting beverages are indeed memorable. She does like the current lounge singer ones that Sam and Ashley have done.
 * Marisha and Travis bring up the one in which Sam dressed in a Dallas Cowboys jersey as a joke on Travis, a fan of the team, and had blood squibs explode on the shirt during the ad. Some people affiliated with the team who knew Travis asked the cast not to do that again. Travis later, when he went to training camp, had some players record a message for Sam to jokingly warn him off.
 * Liam: Sam is incredible at coming up with the ad bits every week, and often gives them to the other cast members just before they air, with no preparation.

(From Monty) Matt, as a DM, how do you deal with accidentally giving players too-powerful items or spells?
Matt says that you do need to adjust the antagonists to match that same power level, but you can also have an antagonist steal the item and plan things so the player gets it back but only when it's at a more appropriate level for them. If you know the players well enough and it's homebrew, you can explain that you made a mistake, but otherwise it is hard to take away an overpowered item. It's a balancing act, for sure.

(From Contessa) Laura, Imogen is currently the character who ends up being the butt of jokes (much like Scanlan or Fjord in prior campaigns); how does that feel?
Laura doesn't mind Imogen being stripped of her dignity often, but Imogen is a much more challenging character in general. Jester was, rather like Grog, a character with no filter, and Imogen tends to overthink instead.

(From Sean) What are some of the things the cast yells and shouts at Matt that we don't get to see?
While the cast cannot recreate this to the fullest extent in a room with young children, it's usually just a bunch of random shouting of weird profanity. It's also often funniest when only one person ends up yelling and it's otherwise quiet.

(From Vaughn) If you were to replace the offense of the Dallas Cowboys with members of Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein, who would make the starting lineup?
Travis is extremely excited by this question. The answer is:
 * Yasha as tight end
 * Vax as quarterback
 * Grog would be a starting middle linebacker or an outside defensive end
 * Vex would be free safety
 * Keyleth would be offensive coordinator
 * Chetney is the kicker. (At this point, Laura asks if Chetney's hat is deliberately in Dallas Cowboys colors; Travis tells her not to worry about it).
 * Ashton would be fullback
 * Beau would be slot receiver

Taliesin, after Molly was resurrected, did you decide to go with Kingsley as a way to help the rest of the group accept Molly's death?
Taliesin always intended Molly to be an ephemeral character who, if he died, would only come back in terms of the major themes and not with his entire history. It would have been wrong to bring back Molly as himself, given that.

(From Sam) Matt, I have trouble figuring out how to show and not tell my players the situation. Do you have any examples or tips for letting the players figure it out for themselves?
Matt points out that it's not bad to tell the players, to an extent, because the GM has all the information and players often have very little. Even if you're trying to run a mystery, you need to be somewhat overt or people will miss it. On the whole, DMs usually err on the side of giving too little information and you're probably not giving them too much.

(From Lucas) Matt, if you had a loaded d20 that always rolled 20s, and gave it to Wil Wheaton, what would happen?
This might be the answer to reversing entropy.

(From Miko) Out of the previous characters you've all played through Exandria, which one would you say is your favorite or the one you've resonated the most with?

 * Travis: Fjord, as he's neither "small murderous" nor "super tall murderous", but rather "medium murderous".
 * Marisha: All characters tend to represent different aspects of one's self, but Keyleth was her first and she has a soft spot for her.

(From Irene) with Exandria Unlimited, you've been able to jump around and explore the past, like the Calamity. Are there other parts in the history that you would be interested in doing?

 * Marisha: Definitely!
 * Matt: Not only would he like to show other facets of the Calamity, since it lasted for years; he'd also like to show what came before, or, after Campaign 3, show what the future might look like.
 * Travis and Liam: A great thing about playing in the same world is that every campaign, mini-series, or canonical one-shot changes the world a little bit and affects the rest.

Quotations
Marisha: It's kind of unfair you get three subclasses. Taliesin: Build your own system. What do you want from me?