How many Critical Role campaigns are there? DnD story arcs explained

As fans digest The Legend of Vox Machina season 2 finale, many are wondering how many Critical Role campaigns have been released so far.

The importance of Critical Role in not only maintaining the global Dungeons & Dragons fanbase but introducing a whole new generation of fans cannot be understated.

This team of lovable misfits has brought fans hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of entertaining content over recent years with multiple different story arcs exploring the wonderful world of Exandria.

As The Legend of Vox Machina wraps up its second season on Amazon Prime Video, there will be countless viewers who are now itching to revisit the original D&D campaigns. So, how many Critical Role campaigns are available to watch for free on YouTube, and where will the franchise go from here?

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How many Critical Role campaigns are there?

As of February 2023, there are three main campaigns from the Critical Role series, with two additional anthology series and one limited series.

Campaign one focused on the ‘Vox Machina’ party (adapted in The Legend of Vox Machina TV series), and released a grand total of 115 episodes from March 2015 to October 2017.

“They’re rowdy, they’re ragtag, they’re misfits turned mercenaries for hire. Vox Machina is more interested in easy money and cheap ale than actually protecting the realm. But when the kingdom is threatened by evil, this boisterous crew realizes that they are the only ones capable of restoring justice. What began as a simple payday is now the origin story behind Exandria’s newest heroes.” – Campaign One.

Campaign two was centered around ‘The Mighty Nein’ party (an animated adaptation has been confirmed to be in production), which ran from January 2018 to June 2021 across 141 episodes.

“Mighty Nein follows a group of criminals and misfits who are the only ones that can prevent the kingdom from plunging into chaos when an arcane artifact capable of reshaping reality falls into the wrong hands.” – Campaign Two.

Campaign three is the current storyline, telling the tale of the ‘Bell’s Hells’ party with 48 episodes being published since October 2021.

“Three groups of adventurers, some familiar and some new, meet in the five-spired city of Jrusar and form an alliance initially born of convenience and the desire for knowledge and coin. Quickly, however, they find themselves digging into the city’s shadowy mysteries and increasingly fraught tensions.” – Campaign Three.

Exandria Unlimited was the first anthology series from Critical Role, which focused on ‘The Crown Keepers’ across 10 episodes between June 2021 and April 2022.

This was followed by the Exandria Unlimited: Calamity storyline, which had ‘The Ring of Brass’ adventuring across four episodes between May and June 2022.

Critical Role fans should also note that a 45-episode limited series called ‘One-shots’ was created in February 2016; some of these stories cover events that are canonical to the main series but are told outside the main timeline of the show.

New episodes of the ongoing third campaign air live on Thursdays at 7 PM Pacific Time on the Critical Role Twitch and YouTube channels.

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Expect more Critical Role content over the next few years

As Critical Role’s success continues to impress fans old and new alike, the global community is looking forward to plenty more content from the team over the next few years.

Aside from the ongoing third campaign, season 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina was confirmed to be in production back in October 2022.

An animated adaptation of Mighty Nein has also been revealed to be in the works as part of a new deal with Amazon Prime Video, the multi-year deal will also see an animated movie hit our screens.

Speaking to Forbes, head of global TV at Amazon Studios Vernon Sanders noted, “With the success of our animated series ‘The Legend of Vox Machina,’ we are looking forward to continuing our relationship with Critical Role and expanding its universe with ‘Mighty Nein.”

“Expanding these iconic franchises for our global Prime Video customers continues to be an ambitious and rewarding journey and we are eager to see where this new series takes us.”

Finally, we have a set of prequel graphic novels from Dark Horse Comics, which will focus on Dr Anna Ripley and the “choices she makes after the de Rolo family of Whitestone is taken over by the vicious Briarwoods.”

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By Tom Llewellyn – [email protected]