The roots of the expansive fantasy stories we see today in Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones began as epic poems, told from person to person in oral tradition. In the era of TV and movies, that method has mostly fallen by the wayside, but it’s still thriving if you know where to look: Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.
Critical Role, the hugely popular DnD live stream helmed by prolific voice actor Matt Mercer, weaves together hundreds of hours of storytelling using only words. Like the oral epics before them, the adventures of Critical Role have inspired a TV of their own: The Legend of Vox Machina, which begins its third season on Amazon Prime Video today.
