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Tabletop roleplaying games are more than fun board games. Just ask Travis Willingham, a voice actor who plays Dungeons and Dragons with his friends on the web show Critical Role. As Travis has played through various campaigns, he’s been forced to become different characters, each with their own unique perspective.

“One of the great things about roleplaying games is that it makes you dive in,” Travis Willingham says during a Critical Role spotlight panel at MCM Comic Con 2023. “Like, what does someone that’s over 400 years old care about? How does he relate to all of these people that come from incredibly different walks of life? If he just cares about woodworking and toys, how does that mix with everything else on a global scale? What are those handshakes look like? That’s the most preposterous sentence I’ve ever said, but that’s kind of the beauty of it.”

“Role-playing games is such an amazing test for life, because you’ll find yourself in instances and situations that you could never dream of. And so, this is just sort of a great trial run at taking a stab at that. It might be a wood chisel stab, but it’s really beautiful in that way.”

Sometimes gaming is more than gaming, and sometimes a web show is more than just a web show. When you roll the dice, you never know who you will become, and what kind of perspectives you’ll have to consider. That’s the power of tabletop gaming.

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:

• How to watch Critical Role in order
• Travis Willingham on the differences between The Legend of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein
• 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.