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Critical Role's Liam O'Brien is, to quote a much-memed song, often the saddest little baby in the room. Whether it's his Campaign 1 character Vax, Campain 2's Caleb, or Campaign 3's Orym, O'Brien is typically bringing loss and trauma into his time at the actual play table. That's why, in Campaign 4, the voice actor wanted to try something different, and why we've all been blessed with hot orc dad Halandil Fang

O'Brien revealed his intentions in a recent episode of Fireside Chat, Critical Role's Fan Q&A talkback series on Beacon.tv. Specifically, the topic came up after a fan posed a question about what kind of planning O'Brien did with Campaign 4 GM Brennan Lee Mulligan to create his orc bard Hal.

"I always picked really strong motivators or calls to action once we get to Campaign 2," O'Brien started, explaining that before that, "Campaign 1 was a fluke accident we sort of stumbled into. [...] but for 2 and 3, I wanted to give good motivation to go down a storyline."

Typically, that "good motivation" would come with a devastating backstory, as viewers of Prime Video's The Mighty Nein adaptation are well aware. And apparently, O'Brien got feedback regarding those backstories as each campaign went along

"I would hear a lot," he said, "'You don't need tragedy.' So I'm giving that a whirl."

O'Brien points out that his theater-managing Hal has "led a great life. [...] The world Is imperfect much like ours, but he's led a life full of family and friends and art and meaning and purpose and a successful business that has stretched through the years."

Looking forward, though, O'Brien thinks that the tragedy he usually begins his characters with will eventually catch up to him as the campaign through Aramán continues.

"I told Brennan in advance," O'Brien concluded. "If he wants me to go adventuring - and I love combat and tabletop games and I love exploring and adventuring - but I've made a guy who is happy living a regular life. If he wanted me to go adventuring he was going to need to knock me the fuck out of my happy place. So I expect that will happen in some form."

Maybe the title of saddest baby isn't completely out of O'Brien's grasp after all.

Critical Role Campaign 4 is streaming now on the group's Beacon, YouTube, and Twitch channels. 

With two animated series on Prime Video, Campaign 4 in full swing, and so much more Exandrian lore to come, Critical Role is showing no signs of slowing down. That's why the adventuring party at Popverse are here to bring you everything we can from those nerdy-ass voice actors & Bo., including:

• Critical Role release schedule
• Critical Role's Campaign 4 characters ranked
• How to watch Critical Role in order
• Ways for you to relive the Critical Role panel from ECCC '26
• Taliesin Jaffe on playing Mollymauk Tealeaf for Campaign 2 vs. playing him for Prime Video
• Matt Mercer's homebrew warrior class (created originally for Vin Diesel)

...and much, much more. Roll initiative, player. Magic awaits.