Critical Role's Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Is Their "Rogue One"

Calamity is coming to Critical Role. This week, the popular webseries launches its four-part Exandria Unlimited: Calamity miniseries, which will explore the final days of Exandria's Age of Arcanum and its lead into The Calamity, a war between the gods that devastated much of the planet. Exandria Unlimited: Calamity is notable in that it not only serves as a prequel to the main Critical Role series, it also stars a mix of Critical Role cast members and newcomers to the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. Joining Critical Role cast members Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham are Exandria Unlimited alum Aabria Iyengar and newcomers Brennan Lee Mulligan, Lou Wilson, and Luis Carazo, with Mulligan (best known for his fantastic work on Dimension 20) serving as the DM. 

"This one was honestly a unique one from top to bottom," Ray told ComicBook.com in a video interview last week when asked how they approached building characters for a series set in a time previously only talked about in lore. "We entered this knowing that we are playing in the Age of Arcanum, so we knew we were playing high-level characters in very high positions of power. Brennan wanted us to be very powerful out of the gate, with characters who are in control and are movers and shakers. So, that required a lot of history, and lore, and understanding our positions before we even got started. One of the first things that we did when making our characters was just sit around a table together and talk about our relationships, and how each of us as individuals fit into the power structure of the city we live in."

"Even though the Age of Arcanum has been talked about by Matt [Mercer, DM of Critical Role's main campaign], or mentioned in books and in the campaigns, I don't think any of us really knew that much specifically," Riegel added. "Like how did it work? What was the government? Why was magic so popular? So to develop a character for that, not really knowing the world that you're in, is hard. It was a more fruitful process making the characters together. Ordinarily for Critical Role, we just develop our characters independently of each other and bring them together. Part of the magic is figuring out how these characters will mix in unusual ways. But since Exandria Unlimited: Calamity is such a contained story in such a strange place and a strange time, it made a lot more sense to build the characters together. And we got some cool relationships out of it."

Another aspect of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity that makes the show unique is that the game is destined to end in tragedy – the players ultimately know that their actions cannot prevent the Calamity that destroys the world as their characters know it. According to Aabria Iyengar, bringing powerful characters who see the approaching Calamity as just another threat to be stopped adds another element of tension to the campaign. "That's something about the high-level play where you can get this big world-shaking news and be like "Yeah, I save the world once a week. I'll deal with that in a second,'" Iyengar said. "And man, there's something about that energy that's been so fun to play." 

Those who have seen GM Brennan Lee Mulligan in action know that his storytelling style is especially apt at pulling the rug from underneath his characters, particularly when the characters themselves seem to have other priorities besides the approaching calamity. Both Iyengar and Ray have played with Mulligan on Dimension 20, but the foreknowledge of what's approaching seems to build on Mulligan's particular brand of tragedy. "We all know the assignment coming into this," Iyengar said. "Seeing the little moments where I'm watching this beautiful card tower being built and I know it's my job to come kick it in. It feels like such a very exciting alley-oop of just like, "Oh, okay, I see what you're building and I'm going to come in and give you, hopefully, what you're asking for, and what the story wants or needs."

Riegel, who hasn't played with Mulligan before and only knew of his GMing skills from reputation alone, was equally impressed with how Mulligan could make the story dark in a hurry. "I didn't really know too much about him other than he's brilliant and that he's an improv guy," Riegel said. "I just assumed that he's going to be wacky or funny, but what's really cool about him is that he can be funny and he can roll with any punches, being an improv dude. But he's got a really cool darkness to him as well. I mean, he can really go to a really dark place among the best of them. And it's been so great to play with him and not know what to expect, just because I just haven't had the experience with him that long. Which makes this whole Calamity just that much more exciting for everyone at the table." 

Of course, Iyengar pointed out to Riegel immediately afterward that it was always "the funny ones" who could be the most emotionally devastating at the table, citing Riegels "What's my mother's name?" from Campaign 1 as one of the most heartbreaking moments in Critical Role history. 

Ultimately, it's the desperation and inevitability of failure that makes Exandria Unlimited: Calamity most exciting for players. "One of the things to focus on is six desperate players characters possibly in the last hours of their lives," Riegel said. "It's so exciting for each one of them." 

So many Dungeons & Dragons games, and Critical Role especially, are a group of true nincompoops that end up becoming the heroes that save the world," added Iyengar. "So what if these were the right people for the job, and you knew they weren't going to get it done? And I think there's something so powerful in seeing the right people get so close, and you know how it ends."

"I'd say we've equated a lot of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity to almost our version of Star Wars: Rogue One," said Ray. "Just because we all know how the series is going to end, that does not mean that you won't still watch this series and still hope and root for your main characters. And that's what I think is magical about it."

Exandria Unlimited: Calamity kicks off on May 26th at 7 PM Pacific Time on Critical Role's Twitch channel.