The unexpected success of the long-awaited adaptation of Critical Role's first long-running Dungeons & Dragons campaign, The Legend of Vox Machina, may have inadvertently opened a door for other internet web series similar to Critical Role. A door that, fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how one may look at it, may likely never be closed again as the history of entertainment has shown that the success of one thing influences the success of copycats. The original web series that The Legend of Vox Machina is based on, Critical Role, has been feeling the effects of this for some time due to its continued success. Numerous other internet web series showing the adventures of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign have since come into the limelight, giving Critical Role some healthy competition for viewers. As is the nature of Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, some of these copycat series are great, some are not, and others are just plain bizarre.
Playing Dungeons & Dragons is a wholly unique experience that really cannot be compared to anything else, as many who have had that experience will tell. Even if the story of the Dungeons & Dragons campaign you are in is utter garbage, the simple act of hanging out with friends, pretending to be skilled sword fighters, expert marksmen, or powerful spell casters, and getting to engage in (and get away with) antics that could never, ever be pulled off in the real world make the experience all the more worthwhile despite the drawbacks. That is the true draw of Dungeons & Dragons, the experience, as everything, good or bad, is that much more enjoyable when one is enjoying it with friends.
However, such an experience can really only be captured in series like Critical Role and other series that are ABOUT Dungeons & Dragons, where the game can actually be seen being played out. As a result, that experience, the main draw to Dungeons & Dragons, is something that cannot in any way make the transition from a simple pen, paper, and dice game into a full-on adaptation of the campaign's story, as it is the story that always takes center stage in these types of adaptations. Thankfully, however, a good dungeon master will always be able to craft an amazing story regardless of the antics of the adventuring party, so the potential that these other series could be adapted is very real.
What Other Campaigns Could be Adapted
Aside from Critical Role, there are now many web series that both show and are about Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. Some of which include The Unexpectables, put on by members of TeamFourStar of Dragonball Z Abridged and Hellsing Ultimate Abridged fame. Acquisitions Incorporated features appearances by employees of Wizards of the Coast (who make Dungeons & Dragons), like Chris Perkins. Girls, Guts, Glory is a show put on by a group of all women who swap out the role of dungeon master each episode to keep things interesting. Adventure is Nigh is a more recent addition put on by The Escapist and features Benjamin “Yahtzee” Croshaw of Zero Punctuation fame. All of the campaigns featured in these examples are creative and interesting in their own ways, but ultimately what keeps the fans coming back to watch them is, again, the experience.
Watching these different groups of people laugh, fight monsters, fumble through (or in some cases, actually solve) problems, and act out their own fantasies that they may have not even had before is something that can only really be shown in a real Dungeons & Dragons game. Take that away, and all that is left is the setting and the characters, which could serve as the building blocks for a decent adaptation, but again if the story that the adaptation tells is not interesting, then it will not be worth anyone's time. Like with everything, some Dungeons & Dragons campaigns are excellent, and some are terrible, but the excellent ones definitely have a way of holding interest.
Successes and Failures
One of the most well-known examples of past adaptations of Dungeons & Dragons is the 2000 movie of the same name starring Justin Whalin, Marlon Wayans, and Jeremy Irons, which, aside from being a cinematic failure with acting that is all over the place, has little if anything to do with the tabletop game it takes its title from. There was also a short-lived animated show entitled Dungeons & Dragons that ran from 1983 to 1985, but most tend to forget that it ever existed. From Japan, however, a very different and much more successful adaptation of something Dungeons & Dragons related is Record of Lodoss War. This franchise began in 1986 with a simple series of D&D replays and has spawned into various mediums.
So The Legend of Vox Machina aside, while attempts to adapt D&D-related stories have historically been met with mixed results, the potential exists for brilliant and clever stories to be told. What it may come down to in the end, however, is less the reputation of the Dungeons & Dragons campaign that inspired the adaptation and more the quality of the adaptation itself, as the campaign's story faces the difficult challenge of sustaining itself without its dungeon master or players.