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Travis Willingham Gets Candid About Critical Role & What Comes Next | Table & Talk Ep. 2

NERDCORE

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Episode 2 of Table & Talk features Travis Willingham of Critical Role. DOES CONTAIN A SPOILER FOR CAMPAIGN 4 FROM THE CONVERGENCE!

Travis is not only one of the original members, but also serves as the CEO of the company.

Outside of Critical Role, he has voiced some of nerd cultures biggest characters to include Thor, Sephiroth, Mustang, and more!

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Travis!

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0:00 A Conversation with a Critical Role Icon
0:42 The Cowboys and the Preseason Hype
1:39 From Comic Books to Dungeons and Dragons
4:03 The First Encounter with D&D Matt Mercer
7:50 Playing a Barbarian Again?
10:59 Navigating the Convergence and Lore
16:54 The Logistics of Campaign Four
22:22 The Evolution of Critical Role as a Business
47:04 The Surreal Atmosphere of Live Shows

20 Comments

@NERDCOREgg Creator 1 month ago (edited) Pinned

SPOILERS FOR C4 Ep. 29+ IN THIS VIDEO. I hope you all enjoyed this chat with Travis! If you want to support Table & Talk's continuation, consider becoming a Member on YouTube or a Patron on Patreon - Links in description!

@Poormanhunting 3 weeks ago

Can we all take a second to appreciate that he made it a point to specifically name drop other good D&D podcasts/shows? That's class right there 👌🏽

@inverteal 1 month ago

2:57 Knowing Travis' profound history on Critical Role as "easily spooked" to the point of his Haunted House walk-through being a Kickstarter reward tier, this childhood lore makes a lot of sense.

@evanmorrison9228 4 weeks ago (edited)

Great interview! Travis's explanation that Brennan's familiarity with DnD being one of the key reasons why they stuck with it for C4 makes a lot of sense. You can see multiple times in C4 where Brennan refers to using a rule from an "older version" and he's not talking about 5e 2014, he's using rules from 3.5e, or 2e. The history and knowledge of the game makes a big difference trying to put on a show like this, especially with the logistic aspects, and needing to be able to estimate how quickly each table will get through their arcs, etc.

@xerosereify 4 weeks ago

Ahh this is the kind of interview I love the most. No uncomfortable questions digging into anyones personal life, no attempts at getting the interviewee to spoil their own show, just a really interesting stream of questions on the technical stuff you normally don't hear too much about

@MarveliteLuck 1 month ago

I love this interview because you asked him questions about things I've always wanted to learn more about. Anytime we learn more about the behind the scenes, business/legal and managerial sides of Critical Role I get locked in because that's the hard work that goes behind making productions as good as theirs. We don't normally see the work that gets put into it, we just consume the content and as a creator of sorts myself, I always love to see the reality behind what it's like to actually put something like Critical Role together.

Travis is also my favourite Critical Role member, a lot of my own playstyle is inspired by him. The way he took on the leadership position when he didn't really want to feels very similar to me, and he taught me the value of taking opportunities to LEARN from them because a lot of media is business. Him being described as a paralegal is so interesting too, I really hope we get to have an interview one day with Marisha, Travis and Matt where they talk about all the BTS process of things someday - even though usually that's private business things.

Beautiful work, I'm looking forward to seeing more of your interviews! Thanks for asking the questions you did, never stop <3

@RefuseResistRevolt 4 weeks ago

I think they are so successful at this not just because of the talent they bring, but the genuine interest and love for each other, the fans and the game. You can’t fake that stuff.

People can feel it.

@LightingGoddess 1 month ago

Excellent interview! Travis mentioned having guests who never played before. Sumalee Montano said she didn’t know how to play and went to her family for a crash course. She was amazing and knocked it out of the park with her kind and empathetic character during that much needed time in C2. They really need to have her back again.

@DeckDaddyBrian 4 weeks ago

It is rare… but sometimes… sometimes we make the right people famous… the entire cast of critical role is to be treasured.

@carrieforbes6204 4 weeks ago (edited)

I love listening to Travis be able to answer questions in long form interviews like this. He is one of the most well-spoken people and is able to really show that the priorities of the original main cast have not changed. They haven't lost their love of what they're doing. In fact after so many years of doing this now they are more passionate because they're in the position to do the things they've always wanted to do because they have the resources, the fan base, and their own community within voice actors and are able to pull in other friends. I just think it's pretty cool. ☺️

@TheWanderersWit 4 weeks ago

Dude.. fantastic questions. These are the kinds of questions I see coming up online all of the time but never getting good answers. Well done.

@ElimusTaken 4 weeks ago

Watched A LOT of interviews with CR members and this one had some amazing original questions. Well done, great interview.

@DrgnDrake 1 month ago

Immediately engaging. Even if I don't follow football, I think that was a great opener.

@samuraiko 4 weeks ago

THIS is the kind of interview I want to see more of... you ask solid questions, you give them the space to answer, you use that to lead or inform your next question... bravo! I hope you eventually get the whole gang on there! :D

@raewn 2 weeks ago (edited)

Hearing Travis talk so freely and fully about the process of creating the critical role company was so interesting. Thank-you for taking the time to ask the kinds of questions that I hadn't heard before. I hear Matt get asked these kinds of questions, but never Travis, and hearing him speak on the work he puts into the company was awesome.

@stevenflaugher9318 1 month ago

After Episode 32, with those weird dreams, Travis should come back to the table as a Harengon! :D

@bowwillis2426 4 weeks ago

This is the best interview i have watched with a critical role cast member! Great work!

@SHORTG4MER 4 weeks ago

i love that you are getting these interviews because you mix in unique questions compered to others who always ask the same things.

@Dispellogic 4 weeks ago

Ah another excellent interview! Great questions, and so many good laughs and shared stories. Travis is such an amazing fellow, and makes me miss him all the more for his presence at the table. But this was a stellar bonus for us. Thanks so much for working and making this happen.

(Also...with perhaps his mentioned desire to risk it at playing something new, I really can't wait to see it. And I hope he gives their artist enough time to draw the character art since he likes to run it to the wire. XD)

@akaflop85 1 month ago

First I like the subtle overlay progression from the previous, it looks better and better. The interview itself was very interesting. I liked Travis’s insight on the various aspects of everything they’re doing from a whole. Very good interview.