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What is the next evolution of D&D actual play? 

It's a question we've asked folks from across the spectrum in the brand new fantasy medium, which essentially brings remote viewers into a TTRPG session. We've gotten answers from titans of the industry like Anjali Bhimani and The Dungeon Dudes, and at Emerald City Comic Con 2026, we got to hear from even more pioneers of this new art form.

That is, Critical Role's own Matt Mercer, Travis Willingham, and Sam Riegel. 

In case you haven't already heard - Mercer, Willingham, and Riegel joined us in ECCC's Pop Spot interview HQ, where we talked extensively on the future of Critical Role itself. But to close out the conversation, we wanted to know what was next for actual play not just from an Exandrian standpoint, but for the medium as a whole.

"Boy, it could be anything," began Willingham. "That's kind of the nice thing, too, is that because there are so many different offerings out there, there are instances where people do things that have never been seen before. I saw a a crowdfunding campaign recently for a bunch of sword masters that are going to choreograph fight scenes in between the TTRPG beats. That sounds crazy and epic and I'm definitely going to tune in to watch that. But there's always people trying to push the envelope in terms of what the medium can stand or what it wants or where it stretch into. 

"There's there's a drive to push more into technology," was Riegel's take, "Using different backdrops and green screens and I'm sure someone out there is trying to do some sort of AI-generated nonsense around their TTRPG live plays. But I'm really excited to see the opposite of that. If live plays and actual plays get more and more accepted into the mainstream, maybe there'll be small, independent live performances or small, independent games that pop up on YouTube or Twitch or wherever. With less technology and less production value; at the core of everything is just story. I don't know; maybe someday there'll be, like, underground rap battles, but they're TTRPG actual players.

"The Eight-Sided Mile?" interjected Mercer, presumably inspiring a pitch deck somewhere out there.

"I think [Riegel] hit the nail on the head for me," Mercer continued, "What makes this such an interesting format of story is - it is a very primal, human storytelling collaboration outside of any technological impact. Game systems empower people to to be storytellers in ways that a lot of society tells them they never could.

Mercer says "there's always going to be that push of, 'How we can push the envelope? How we can reinvent and and cross over that line between other mainstream media and this?'" 

"We look for these avenues as well where we can," he admits, "But without losing what makes it so unique and so special against all that classic media. Which is the fact that, at the core, it's just people investing in each other, having fun, and investing in a story they're building together. So I think there are ways to reinvent it and ways to make it a unique experience of engaging it as a medium, but I've seen people both succeed and fail in trying to to become that next big evolution and losing touch with what made it so unique in the first place."

"Story and friends," agreed Reigel, "And rap battles."

Watch Popverse's full interview with Critical Role's Matthew Mercer, Travis Willingham, and Sam Riegel from Emerald City Comic Con 2026 right here:

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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'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.