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☆ Critical Role is expanding its nerd empire. One longtime partner is about to be left in the dust.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Now, Critical Role is striking out on its own with the launch of Beacon, an in-house membership service. AdvertisementBeacon essentially gives people what they get with a Twitch subscription — instant access to VODs of their livestreams, but with some additional perks. The $5.99-a-month Beacon membership comes with exclusive access to additional Critical Role programs. Critical Role CEO Travis Willingham added that with "every windfall," the team continues to "purposefully reinvest" in their company to make more content.

Persons: —, Marisha Ray, Ray, Travis Willingham, Matthew Mercer, Twitch Organizations: Service, Business, YouTube, Amazon, Hasbro, Beacon Locations: Twitch, London

☆ Amazon is pouring big bucks into geek culture — and Critical Role's Matt Mercer just dropped a major hint about the series fans have been waiting for
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewTo all the Critters, as members of the Critical Role fandom are known, I come bearing excellent news. The cast of Critical Role has remained tight-lipped about "The Legend of The Mighty Nein," their second Amazon-backed animated series. For the uninitiated, Critical Role is a juggernaut in the tabletop roleplaying game industry. "We're heavy in development on Campaign Two's animated series right now, and it's coming along so well," Mercer told me. Advertisement"Things that we didn't get to see in the campaign, we now get to explore as part of the animated series," Mercer said.

Persons: —, Matthew Mercer, Mercer, Vincent Valentine, Vox, Liam O'Brien, O'Brien, Caleb Widogast Organizations: Service, Business, London's Wembley Arena, Cerberus Assembly, CR, Amazon Prime Locations: Exandria

☆ Rejoice, millennials: The vampire boyfriend is cool again
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

If you've spent time on TikTok or X in the past few months, you may have spotted a proliferation of videos and posts about two video game characters. There's Astarion from "Baldur's Gate 3," and more recently, there's Vincent Valentine, a fan-favorite character from Square Enix's "Final Fantasy VII" remake. Square Enix; Gregg DeGuire/Getty ImagesMercer's opening line in "Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth" is now a fandom legend. from within the depths of his velvet-lined coffin, longtime "Final Fantasy" fans were introduced to the super-cool, uber-goth gunslinger. "I hope viewers of the work see, too, that there's more underneath the surface of a person than the trope of this decadent, hedonistic, theatrical vampire," Newbon said.

Persons: —, hasn't, you've, There's, there's Vincent Valentine, Edward Cullen sparkled, Edward, he's, there's, Alucard, Valentine, Matthew Mercer, Neil Newbon, Matt Mercer, Zelda, Vincent Valentine, Gregg DeGuire, Vincent, Mercer, I've, Vox, Scott Garfitt, who's, Astarion, Newbon Organizations: Service, Business, BAFTA, Getty Images

☆ Critical Role's heartbreak prince helped make 'Dungeons & Dragons' cool. Now he's coming for the gothic horror gaming scene.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Critical Role recently released "Candela Obscura," a gothic horror roleplaying game. AdvertisementIn October, Critical Role, a crew of eight self-professed "nerdy-ass voice actors," played their long-running "Dungeons & Dragons" game at a sold-out Wembley Arena. These qualities make O'Brien ideal for stepping into the game master role for "Candela Obscura," Critical Role's new gothic horror game, and he's leaning hard into the tragedy. AdvertisementIt's also one of the more punishing gaming systems he's played in, O'Brien told me during our video call. Mercer, the team's designated game master, is the one who crafts the narrative and controls how the story develops.

Persons: Liam O'Brien, —, Matthew Mercer, O'Brien, I've, It's, he's, Twitch, Mercer, — O'Brien, — Taliesin Jaffe, Imari Williams, Aimee Carrero, Alexander Ward —, Taliesin Jaffe, Alexander Ward, Julius Caesar, Irish, Martin McDonagh, Spenser Starke, Rowan Hall, Aabria Iyengar, Starke, Mary Shelley, it's, Amazon, Marisha Ray, Travis Willingham, Ashley Johnson, Sam Riegel, Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer Robyn von Swank Organizations: Service, Wembley, Darrington Press, Hasbro's, Hasbro, CR Locations: Europe, Ireland, New York, Mercer, Starke

☆ Nerd world's most famous faces are out to conquer the gothic horror gaming space — and their heartbreak prince is here to get the job done
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Critical Role recently released "Candela Obscura," a gothic horror roleplaying game. These qualities make O'Brien ideal for stepping into the game master role for "Candela Obscura," Critical Role's new gothic horror game, and he's leaning hard into the tragedy. AdvertisementIt's also one of the more punishing gaming systems he's played in, O'Brien told during our video call. Mercer, the team's designated game master, is the one who crafts the narrative and controls how the story develops. "I always prefer complicated narratively satisfying endings to a neat little happy ending," O'Brien told me.

☆ The 8 people who made 'Dungeons & Dragons' cool just launched their answer to the game. Hasbro and its game empire should be very, very nervous.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Cheryl Teh | Chris Kaye | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The cast of Critical Role launched the open beta for their new gaming system, "Daggerheart," on Tuesday. Last year, people packed into a sold-out Wembley Arena to watch the eight-person cast of Critical Role play "Dungeons & Dragons." But on Tuesday night, they took a break from the game that made them famous and launched "Daggerheart," their answer to "Dungeons & Dragons." The previous edition's Open Game License, or OGL, allowed creators to publish and profit from work compatible with the game. It's possible to rebuild your "Dungeons & Dragons" characters in "Daggerheart," and the complex capabilities built into the game allow for extended narrative-driven campaigns.

Persons: they've, —, Matthew Mercer, It's, it's, Travis Willingham, Willingham, there's, Elon Musk, Gizmodo Organizations: Twitch, Hasbro, Service, Wembley, Darrington Press, BI

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