Prior to Critical Role’s live Dungeons & Dragons session on Thursday, dungeon master Matthew Mercer (Overwatch, Attack on Titan) took to Twitter to confirm suspicions that the series’ second campaign is “coming to a close rapidly.” Mercer specifically stated that the current arc – which sees the party facing down former Might Nein member Mollymauk/Lucien – will be the campaign’s last.
While the Mighty Nein gear up for a final battle, Mercer assured that “the story doesn’t end when a final boss dies” (Twitter). Mercer issued this reassurance to fans worried that other loose story threads, outside of the culminating conflict, would not be resolved if the campaign were to wrap soon. The dungeon master asked fans to “trust us that we want the players to feel satisfied with the end” (Twitter).
However, per Mercer’s original Twitter thread, the Critical Role ring master disclosed that “not every thread needs to be closed… such things are always ripe for the picking down the road.” Basically, Mercer has asked fans to trust himself and his players to bring campaign two’s 400+ hour story to a satisfying end, but one that still leaves room to revisit the beloved characters of The Mighty Nein in the future.
Mercer drew comparisons between The Mighty Nein and Vox Machina, the adventuring party at the center of Critical Role’s first campaign. Running for a similar length, bringing campaign one’s story to an end was an emotional experience for both fans and the players at the table. However, there has been plenty of ancillary content for fans of Vox Machina to return to since that campaign ended, such as tie-in books, comics, collectibles, special one-shot stories and an upcoming Amazon animated series. Mercer has promised similar fate awaits The Mighty Nein once the main story of the campaign has wrapped, a promise already in-action as the adventurers are each getting their own graphic novel origin stories.
Mercer implored trust after his initial Twitter thread, confirming campaign two’s imminent end, was met by some “choice” comments from fans, via Twitter. While Critical Role fans are both loyal and avid, the fanbase has historically been reticent regarding change. When Taliesin Jaffe’s (Hellsing, Ouran High School Toast Club) character Mollymauk initially died in 2018, Critical Role and Mercer received vocal backlash from fans who resisted the narrative decision, despite the role death can play in the mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons, via Comicbook. Hopefully fans of the second campaign can heed Mercer’s advice and “enjoy the ride, the moments that come, and the stories we all will tell together in these final sessions” (Twitter).
Once Mercer closes his Dungeon Master’s Guide on campaign two for good, it will open a realm of possibilities from the Critical Role creative team and an opportunity to grow the critter fanbase with whatever new story the team tackles next.