The Secret Behind Critical Role's Success and the Failure to Imitate It

I've been investing more time in TRPGs (I currently run two D&D campaigns), and that's brought to mind a question: why does Critical Role utterly dominate the D&D streaming scene? It absorbs so much of the space that you can find multiple videos discussing 'the Matt Mercer effect' on the game (cf), which is really more of a 'Critical Role' effect. It's extremely rare for one show to cast its shadow over an entire community, particularly over such a sustained period of time. Critical Role debuted back in March, 2015, and the group not only earns the largest payouts from Twitch (cf), but no other streamed D&D campaign comes anywhere near its viewership--why is that? It's a question no one that I can find has seriously explored.

Let me add: my exploration isn't about value judgements--whether you love, hate, or are indifferent to Critical Role (or any of the other streamer referenced here), it's not about what is good or bad, but about what is popular.

Some context first. The popularity of Dungeons & Dragons is surging for the first time since the 1980s and, unlike that era (my era), there isn't a huge gender split in the playerbase (it's currently 40% female and 40% 25 and under--my own groups are all under 40 with a 50/50 gender split). I think exploring the 'why' of the popularity surge would be interesting, but that's not my focus here. What we can say, broadly, is that the launch of 5e in July, 2014, is unrelated to that increased popularity (which is to say, the surge began years after its release). There may be a loose connection to the board game boom that preceded it (cf), but at some point in the last five years the game entered the zeitgeist as something worth doing. It's worth noting that this explosion in TRPG's is exclusively for D&D 5e, so the brand is important even if the current edition isn't why. The growth also isn't attached to licensed releases (the last 'big' book release was the Erin M. Evans' 4e series that began in 2010; the only theatrical film was in 2000; and show is the cartoon from the 1980s). Indeed, I'd argue WotC is the accidental beneficiary of this renewed popularity, stumbling around trying to figure out how best to profit from it (the necessity to buy D&D Beyond rather than anticipating it is just one example of that). I don't think there's a single cause for the hype, but let's get back to the question that brought us here.

The history of successful D&D streaming goes back to the early days of Youtube. In 2008 (the 4e era, which launched that June), Penny Arcade and WotC partnered to make a D&D podcast whose periodic play on Youtube hit a million views or more all the way into 2016. Their D&D brand, which still exists, is now barely a blip on the radar, but I think it's past success served as a proof of concept for what Critical Role has become. As for Acquisitions Incorporated, I think it suffered from the limitations of the format (periodic play and lack of continuing storylines--ironically it's popularity collapsed as D&D itself became more popular). One can say something similar about the significant, if less popular, Rollplay (whose sequel was Solum), the 2013 streamer-fronted D&D game via itmeJP (with Koibu as the DM). It's popularity was nothing compared to either AI or CR (something not helped by Koibu using a custom 2e as its basis), but it's opening episode sits at a very respectable 500k. In terms of format, Rollplay is the clear precursor for how Critical Role operates--a continuing storyline that's streamed regularly--now considered 'normal'. What's important with these earlier examples (including one-shot celebrity sessions, like when Robot Chicken writers played 4e), is that it did not impact the overall popularity of the game (or help 4e)--while JP continued having D&D streamed (eventually with DM Adam Koebel, until he was cancelled), the stream's popularity remained stagnant; the ignominious fate of Acquisitions Incorporated is even worse, as its numbers crashed and its official 5e product is the most ignored part of the line [after I originally posted this, it was made free to all].

Let's note that Critical Role's popularity has continued to grow over the years, which runs counter to every other significant D&D streamer there is. We can see this represented in a number of ways. Back in 2017, CR had Green Ronin publish the original Tal'Dorei book in August on a small scale, which heavily contrasts to direct publications with WotC starting in 2020, as well as CR's larger, self-published update of the former. We also have their fan project, The Legend of Vox Machina, getting picked up as a full series by Amazon (the show did not hit the heights of popularity like Arcane, but has introduced new people to the product).

So why is Critical Role so popular? The simple (even flippant) answer is that these are attractive, talented voice actors, giving them a leg up on 'normal' people playing the game. This response has gone unexplored and unchallenged by the community and while I'd agree it's part of the answer, it's only a part. We know that it's not a major element because of the many other celebrity-impregnated games that fail to reach the same heights--HarmonQuest among many others. Let's look through the top-viewed D&D sessions on YT to get a sense of the numbers (in red are one-shots and abbreviated/episodic sessions, and green is where a member of CR was involved in something outside their usual campaign):

1. Critical Role (Mar12/15; campaign 1, episode 1) - 18 million
2. Critical Role (Jan15/18; campaign 2, episode 1) - 15 million
3. Critical Role (Jan22/18; campaign 2, episode 2) - 7.7 million
4. Critical Role (Jan29/18; campaign 2, episode 3) - 6.1 million
5. Critical Role (July2/15; campaign 1, episode 2) - 5.7 million
6. Critical Role (Feb12/18; campaign 2, episode 5) - 5.5 million
7. Critical Role (Oct25/21; campaign 3, episode 1) - 5.5 million
8. Critical Role (Feb19/18; campaign 2, episode 6) - 5.3 million
9. Critical Role (Feb5/18; campaign 2, episode 4) - 5.2 million [I cut Critical Role off at this point]
10. D&Diesel (Oct19/15; Matt Mercer one-shot with Vin Diesel; extended version) - 5 million
11. Dimension 20 (Oct9/18; episode 1 of a campaign) - 3.6 million
12. Stephen Colbert one-shot (May23/19; Matt Mercer DMing) - 2.6 million
13. Stranger Things one-shot (Dec18/20; Chris Perkins DMing) - 1.8 million
14. Viva La Dirt League (June26/20; intro to a campaign) - 1.4 million
15. High Rollers (July 5/18; first episode) - 1.3 million
16. Terry Crews (Aug2/18; Matt Mercer one-shot) - 1.3 million
17. Penny Arcade (Mar10/15; Chris Perkins) - 1.1 million
18. Penny Arcade (Aug25/14; Chris Perkins) - 1.1 million
19. Force Grey (Nov17/17; Matt Mercer short celeb campaign) - 1 million
20. The Descent (May19/19; Jeremy Crawford; part one) - 1 million
21. Lost Mines of Phandelver (July1/14; official D&D stream; part one) - 1 million
22. Penny Arcade (Apr20/11; Chris Perkins) - 1 million

Clearly, the Critical Role numbers are significantly higher and those totals don't include Twitch views, podcast numbers, or stream mirrors (while these apply, to varying degrees, to other streams, the same titanic difference in totals are present).

Excluding those in red (and keeping in mind those with additional episodes saw their viewership fall off a cliff after the opener), not much remains. Dimension 20's campaign had a huge drop off (65% for episode two), with its next highest rated campaign (a year later, with Mercer as a player) opening at 1.4 (the channel's popularity remains relatively high, but only one video this past year is over 400k). Viva's short intro also saw a big drop with its campaign opener (400k, about 70%). The High Rollers campaign continues, but its most recent YT upload has just 15k views (no other video on their channel is over 400k).

What's clear is that having Mercer DM does not replicate CR numbers, even if it helps. That's even more true of the cast (this contrast makes sense, as the DM is the architect of the experience). It's also evident that just being a celebrity isn't enough and that other than (historically) Penny Arcade, none of the top streams were able to come close to their viewership. The trend is: a big opening followed by a crash that continues until it settles at a much lower orbit [to avoid this ignobility, Dimension 20 consistently produces short-run campaigns].

What about Twitch? Critical Role gets the largest payouts on the platform (if not the largest views), and are currently averaging about 50k live viewers (with another 27-28k on YT). There are a ton of D&D streamers on Twitch, so let's compare recent numbers:

1. Critical Role - 50k
2. High Rollers - 1k
3. Just Roll With It - 800 (and dropping--they started a new campaign recently)
4. Rustage - 700
5. The Unexpectables - 600
6. Official D&D channel - 400

Nothing else is currently averaging over 300 concurrent viewers, even though there are innumerable channels streaming the game. Rustage has YT celebrities participating and the official D&D channel includes influencers, but to no avail. What's clear is that, over time, the only consistently popular channel besides CR is High Rollers, but it pales in comparison (just 2% of the audience).

There are D&D streams on Youtube as well (or those who do both), such as Matt Colville's 4e 'Dusk' (which opened at 146k) or Arcane Arcade's 'Icewind Dale' (opened at 108k), but they can't hold those first episode numbers (13k and 5k most recently). This lack of attention does not discriminate, as Deborah Ann Woll has a new, non-D&D campaign out ('Children of Earte'), which has failed to make an impact (5.1k for the opener).

It's hard to find any serious discussion of what makes CR so popular. Here a comparison is made to the high production values of HarmonQuest as being a problem for imitators, but there's no serious effort to look beyond that solitary comparison and surface details. Here it's suggested the platform that launched CR (Geek & Sundry) is a big part of the success, and while that certainly helped, plenty of other campaigns have had big launches and failed to achieve the same success (including those on CR, as we'll get into). This dovetails into the next point: the participants are (minor) celebrities, but we've already demonstrated that doesn't mean much in terms of sustained viewership. In every other streaming category, those involved are constantly trying to figure out what works best in order to imitate it (variety streamers mindnumbingly jump from trend-to-trend), but for D&D no one seems willing to dig beneath the surface.

Even Critical Role doesn't understand it's own formula, despite having access to all the data. This past summer (June, 2021) they tried to duplicate themselves with the eight-episode run called Exandria Unlimited. The show had a different DM (who runs things on Dimension 20), but most of the participants were from CR. It enjoyed a very strong opening (2.7 million), but dropped off (1.6, c.41%) and tanked by the conclusion (500k, just 19% of the original audience, and this number is after it was boosted by characters from it appearing in campaign three). The reason provided for the poor response is largely on the DM (this lukewarm response to her hurt the 2-part sequel that just aired, with part one yet to hit 250k). As interesting as this is, it does not answer our central question.

One could argue that it's important that the group are all good friends IRL, but most games are like that, so we hit another dead end. What else could it be? Here's my theory:

• Campaign depth. Mercer's campaigns are deep, involved, and contain mysteries. This can't happen in a short-term campaign and published campaigns don't handle these elements well (reliance on the latter is one of the reasons why Arcane Arcade has low viewership relative to their views on XP to Level 3).
• Plot Dramatics. Backstory elements matter significantly and there are twists and turns. Mercer allows for and includes many deviations from the central tension, which adds verisimilitude to the setting. We can see how dismissive other (current and former) high profile DMs are of backstory here (Colville and the cancelled Koebel), and I think its one of the reasons neither was propelled into the streaming stratosphere.
• Humour. While not every joke lands equally, there's a steady interjection of humour that isn't matched elsewhere--it helps break up drama, combat, and regular narrative (and is great for clips).
• Player buy-in. Plenty of groups have engaged players, but the CR crew are working for not just their own narrative, but the game narrative--they want it to succeed and to work within the bounds of Mercer's story.
• Improvement. I'd argue each CR campaign has improved on the last (both the DM and the players)--this does not seem to happen in other campaigns, judging by the consistent trend of declining viewership: the more exposure there is, the more views regress (positive changes ought to reverse that trend).
• No one is annoying (I'm looking at you High Rollers). While there are criticisms of players and characters in CR, at no point has one of them been consistently annoying to the point where the show becomes unwatchable to a significant number of viewers.

Competitors don't have this whole buffet to offer. There's a heavy sameness to the style of play in other groups, so the amount of entertainment does not measure up. These struggles are evident in things like Colville's heavily hyped "The Chain" (Feb/19)--700k to 75k, keeping just 10% of the audience. Colville made the correct choice, I believe, of shifting towards product design as well as using pseudo-celebs (Dael Kingsmill etc) in his next effort. Another example is the High Rollers' "Aerois" campaign, where I couldn't get through the first episode because of one enormously irritating player (the campaign's drop from its opener to present is ridiculous, from the 1.3 million to 15k).

To sum up, I think there is some truth to the clichés about the aesthetics of the show and cast, their celebrity (particularly how well voice acting fits TRPGS), the platform, and their friendship. However, it's those other elements that put them into the stratosphere. I should add that I don't think Critical Role is the primary reason why D&D has become so popular, but it helped and serves as an expression of that changed state.

This article was written by Peter Levi