Critical role mastermind Matt Mercer has a story of surprise origins – he never finished his first D&D campaign

Matt Mercer is, in many ways, the face of modern TTRPG storytelling. As the founder of the Land of Exndria in Critical Roll, Mercer played a major role in creating live play media. And perhaps even more impressive, it has evolved from a dungeon and dragon niche nerd culture to stadium filling showbiz. So how ironic is it that Mercer's own entry has never finished his first D&D campaign? The story comes from Mercer's interview with Forbes. There, the current iconic GM explained the story of his origins in TTRPGS. After being presented to the manual for Dungeon & Dragons Monsters by his grandma at a very young age, the next experience of voice actor in the game that influenced his life was in his late teens. “When I was in high school, I was part of the 'popular arts club', which was the public term for nerd comic book/video game clubs. Those who were the heads of the club followed the kids. “I ran home,” continued GM, creating a character and participating in the game. I came with this backstory to my characters and they were just these slapstick players. No one would do that, so I learned to DM on the spot. “Even when we incorporate Mercer in his words that the campaign he describes is not fulfilling, we can't help but wonder what it looked like and how it affected the critical role and the history of TTRPG live play. For example, the world of Exandria is a bigger league than Mercer legend for the first time at the table, but not everyone has taken out the jokes of Dick. Critical Roll Campaign 4 will debut on Critical Roll's Beacon, YouTube and Twitch channels on October 2nd.