In between doing their main campaign and the occasional new thing, the Critical Role crew has done TTRPG one-shots themed around specific video games. Usually timed to come out around a title’s launch window, past one-shots have included the likes of Elden Ring, Elder Scrolls Online, and Doom Eternal.
In a few weeks, the next game to join that list will be Nintendo’s recently released Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. On Friday, the crew revealed they’d partnered with the developer to run a one-shot set in the world of Hyrule. So if you’re worried about potential game spoilers in this, it doesn’t sound like you need to be. When asked on Twitter, the Critical Role team confirmed there would be nothing spoiled, and that the one-shot’s “story and characters are of our own creation. Everything is simply inspired by elements of The Legend of Zelda.”
Running the game will be the show’s primary DM, Matt Mercer, who also voices Ganondorf in Tears. (You may also know him as Hot Ganondorf.) The players consist of Critical Role co-creators Liam O’Brien and Marisha Ray, along with recent transplants Emily Axford (Dimension 20) and Robbie Daymond (Exandria Unlimited/Campaign 3), plus newcomer Omar Najam (Dimension 20). On Twitter, Daymond described the one-shot as a “glorious fever dream...it’s fully unhinged,” while Mercer called it “delightful to play officially in Hyrule having grown up wanting to BE in Hyrule.” With how big Critical Role is on its own and how Tears has basically become most people’s Game of the Year, the synergy makes sense and may potentially bring some Zelda fans into the TTRPG fold when all is said and done.
Critical Role will premiere its Legend of Zelda one-shot on Thursday, May 30 @ 7 PM PT (so 9 or 10 PM, depending on if you’re Midwest or east coast) via its Twitch and YouTube channels.
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