The Amazon Prime series Dungeons & Dragons fans with an entertaining animated adaptation of a campaign, but home groups should not use the show as a template for their own games. Despite its brisk pace and quality production values, Vox Machina exhibits many of the worst tendencies of inexperienced D&D groups, providing more examples of what to avoid in a tabletop game than goals to aspire to. Most of the show’s protagonists are one-note caricatures who fail to engage with the dramatic stakes of the story. They are eager to banter among themselves, and depict fierce camaraderie, but they are content with treating outsiders to the group as window dressing rather than people. The incoherent nature of the setting, which aims mainly to include as many D&D campaign tropes as possible, fails to provide immersion or verisimilitude.
There are several D&D campaigns and settings that are not worth players’ time, and Vox Machina depicts a campaign that would fall among those. Many inexperienced D&D players start with one-dimensional characters that embody simplistic archetypes, and the bulk of Vox Machina’s heroes fit this mold. A first-time player might roleplay a bard as a walking series of sex jokes, like Scanlan Shorthalt, but experienced groups require more depth. Straightforward stereotypes such as a "dumb barbarian" who lives for booze and battle, like Grog Strongjaw, are fine starting points for children diving into D&D, but the lack of nuance is hardly aspirational. Any consistency of portraying outlook or alignment is disregarded in Vox Machina, as the heroes freely slip between behaving like sociopaths when it amuses them to displaying empathy when it is convenient.
The show's early moments depict the adventuring team engaging in a vicious barroom brawl, presenting a party of nihilists and hedonists. Some DMs struggle to prevent high-level D&D characters from playing gods, as some groups fall into the trap of depicting characters that only converse with monarchs and archmagi, losing their connection to the world they live in and the people they share it with. The low to mid-level heroes of Vox Machina already exhibit this quality, showcasing inconsistent roleplay that experienced groups would not settle for. In the series’ first story arc the Vox Machina are destitute and take on a monster hunting quest out of raw opportunism. The group flips from self-serving mercenaries unwilling to put themselves at risk to vowing to slay a dragon or die trying.
The Vox Machina Party Makes All The Roleplaying Mistakes Of First Time D&D Players
The whiplash change in characterization comes from a simple, positive interaction with children in a rural village that is wiped out by the dragon. Novice groups often leverage saccharine tropes such as these in lieu of making real effort at roleplaying or storytelling. There are hacks and house rules to make D&D fun for newcomers, but every DM and player should strive to grow beyond this entry level pastiche. If the Vox Machina heroes are capable of empathy for others, they should already be aware of the value of life and should not require a specific exchange with sympathetic children to humanize an entire village. A flip from complete self-interest to an adamant willingness to die for a cause sounds like dramatic roleplaying to those who have never tried it before, but is simply poor roleplaying, reinforced and validated by an inexperienced storyteller.
Vox Machina’s second arc sees the group placed in a position of political importance, and their insular nature and inconsistent characterization become more evident. Characters like Vex Vessar, who were willing to die to save others from a dragon in prior episodes revert to a completely mercenary attitude of indifference toward anyone not in the adventuring party. A play on the Darklords of Dungeons & Dragons’ Ravenloft campaign world are introduced as the next antagonists, who directly tie into the backstory of Percy de Rolo. The Briarwoods, a husband-and-wife vampire and necromancer duo, encounter Vox Machina at a social function, which leads to Percy confronting the couple. Percy shares his backstory, revealing how the Briarwoods murdered his family and took over the domain of Whitestone, where they have cruelly ruled for several years. This knowledge prompts the group to set out to liberate Whitestone, in part to clear their names for a crime and in part to help Percy in his pursuit of revenge.
Though specific exchanges among the characters regarding the Briarwoods offer superficial drama, the rationale for Percy’s delayed vengeance comes across as metagaming rather than authentic. Percy has been aware of the cruelty of the Briarwoods for years and knew fully well were are abusing their power over the citizenry of Whitestone. Dungeon Masters should encourage roleplaying in D&D, which requires consistent characterization. At no point earlier did Percy suggest that liberating Whitestone is important to him, even when the group was directionless and penniless at the series' outset. It is only after the Briarstones are placed in front of them that Percy conveniently re his vendetta, and his friends readily agree to commit themselves to aid him. Characters that flip from sociopathy to larger-than-life heroism, like the Vox Machina cast, have no consistency to their characterization.
The World Is Less A Living D&D Campaign World, More A Theme Park For Its Heroes
Generous viewers could call these shifts character arcs, but if so, they are nonsensical. A streetwise half-elf rogue like Vax Vessar should not need the death of a child he exchanged a few words with to teach him the value of life. Percy should not need to see the faces of his family’s murderers to be reminded that the people of Whitestone suffer daily under their rule. There are overused D&D tropes Dungeons Masters should avoid, and Vox Machina packed as many as possible into its short run. An evil dragon revealing that their humanoid form was an ally is a banal twist. Player characters who behave like “murder hobos” suddenly developing zealous convictions is a sort of metagame opportunism; it allows players to engage in wanton chaos most of the time while taking part in dramatic roleplay when it is convenient.
The world of Vox Machina does not feel organic, but rather, tailored around entertaining a specific group of people who live in it. D&D is a heroic fantasy game, but skilled DMs strive to make their worlds feel real, not like theme parks for the player characters’ amusement. Humor is an important part of many D&D games, but the characters of Vox Machina push tedious gags instead of letting humor happen naturally. Vox Machina is certainly worth watching, if only to see a D&D game animated like never before. D&D can be overwhelming for first time DMs, and players as well. The Vox Machina series captures a lot of the messy amusement of a first time DM gaming with a group of new players. In more ways than not, it illustrates many of the worst ways to run or play a Dungeons & Dragons game, making Vox Machina less an example of what to aim for, and more a guide of what to avoid.
New players frequently portray fierce bonds of loyalty among a group, while failing to connect with the people of the world. Inexperienced DMs often fall back on tired tropes and melodrama, hoping for unearned emotional payoff. Many D&D fans will enjoy Vox Machina, but they should ensure they do not mistakenly view it as a goal for their home games. Nearly every home Dungeons & Dragons campaign should strive to be better than Vox Machina and view it solely as a reminder of their earliest tabletop RPG experiences that they outgrew.
