Tears of the Kingdom’s own thirst-inspiring Ganondorf, Matthew Mercer, brought a Hyrulean adventure to the Critical Role table in a Zelda-themed one-shot complete with monster hunting, puzzle solving and plenty of meal prep.
Mercer was joined by Critical Role regulars Marisha Ray and Liam O’Brien, who brought a pair of Rito-Zora best friends to the table with researcher Marga and literal gym shark Yolo. Newcomer Oscar Najam, from Dimension 20’s A Court of Fey and Flowers, played their own cockatiel-adjacent Rito, Tota. Robbie Daymond and Emily Axford, who have both served as guests on Critical Role‘s Bells Hells campaign, engaged in apple-based flirting as Dink and hot dog inventor Babson. In addition to his role as Dorian Storm in Exandria Unlimited and Critical Role’s third campaign, Daymond has recently embarked on Candela Obsucura’s debut horror outing.
Several combative Hyrulean creatures, including Chuchus, Bokoblins and a Gleeok disrupted Team Skydive’s Zonai expedition. Set during Tears of the Kingdom’s inciting action, Hyrule’s sudden upheaval and shifting landscape created various obstacles and puzzles on the party’s journey home to Lookout Landing. Critical Role‘s usual brand of chaos tends to run especially rampant in one-shots, such as their recent Nordverse hack-venture, and infusing that tone into the world of Tears of the Kingdom inspired a slew of fanart from the Critter community.
Critical Role Combines Zelda With Powered by the Apocalypse
Though Mercer stressed that the Tears of the Kingdom one-shot did not constitute official Zelda canon, Daymond and Axford both made playful nods to the game with Bab’s Kilton name-drop and Dink representing a Bizarro Goron stand-in for Link. Rather than Dungeons & Dragons, Critical Role’s Tears of the Kingdom one-shot ran on a modified version of the Powered by the Apocalypse system that incorporated Zelda mechanics such as a simplified Triforce stat-line and heart-based health system that could be regained through foraging and cooking. From the official character art to the in-game sound effects and rainy atmosphere, Critical Role’s one-shot played homage to the world of Tears of the Kingdom aesthetically and mechanically.
Critical Role’s tabletop legacy has always maintained a strong lineage to the world of video games, from its platform on Twitch to its cast of award-winning video game voice actors such as The Last of Us’ Ashley Johnson and Laura Bailey. The Tears of the Kingdom one-shot joins the Tiny Tina’s Wonderland one-shot in capitalizing on Critical Role’s natural foothold in the video game space.
Critical Role returns to its regularly scheduled Dungeons & Dragons programming with new episodes of Campaign 3 streaming Thursday at 7 PT on Twitch and YouTube.
Source: Twitter
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