Thanks to its origins as a popular The Legend Of Vox Machina takes audiences into the world of D&D like never before. It vividly depicts what it's like when D&D players imagine what their characters are doing in the world around them while playing in a session.
Based on the first campaign of the popular D&D web series Critical Role has helped expand the D&D community thanks to its massive popularity. There are two additional main campaigns, several mini-campaigns, multiple official D&D sourcebooks that allow fans to incorporate the world of Critical Role into their home games, and now The Legend Of Vox Machina.
By using Campaign 1 as its basis, The Legend Of Vox Machina avoids the adaptation problems that previous D&D projects have faced by staying true to what D&D is all about: the spirit of group storytelling that is at its core. Previous D&D adaptions like 2000's contradicted the established D&D canon. The film also failed to deliver on the group storytelling level as well. The "party" of adventurers wasn't even fully assembled till later in the film. The Legend Of Vox Machina, on the other hand, starts off with the full team of Vox Machina already established together, jumping right into the action.
In addition to already being an established party, the show also stays true to source Critical Role canon. Instead of having to create an entirely new plot, The Legend Of Vox Machina just had to condense and use the best parts of the story arcs from the live game. In order to streamline the animated series, they just took out all of the out-of-game conversations, in-game planning, and players deciding what to do during combat that typically slow a session down. What is left is a successful and streamlined adaptation of the show that stays true to its source material.
The Legend Of Vox Machina succeeds where previous D&D projects have failed by avoiding the same adaptation problems. The team behind Critical Role has proven that successful D&D film franchises are possible if production teams that, at its heart, D&D is about group storytelling. There are no "main characters" but rather a team of individuals who struggle and journey together while working towards a common goal - or quest. The production team must also keep in mind the source material as well. Something can't be associated with the Dungeons & Dragons name without acknowledging and incorporating the source material that draws a group of friends together to play a campaign. Future D&D adaptations should pay close attention to Critical Role if they want successful franchises because the team behind does it right.
