Matthew Mercer Tested With Critical Role Campaign 3 Episode Fans Call Funniest

Critical Role has played Dungeons & Dragons for an online audience of fans called Critters for over a decade. In that time, the group has produced moments of love, heartbreak and devastation. Examples include Vax’s sacrifice in Campaign 1, the death of a beloved party member in Campaign 2 and the lore reveals of Campaign 3. Read more about the show at Polygon’s Critical Role page.

For every epic beat, the cast has also cooked up something that tested the patience and sanity of Dungeon Master and company co-founder Matthew Mercer. Vex’ahlia accidentally shot Scanlan in the neck while practicing archery from her flying broom. Jester sent some unhinged messages.

Mercer recently revealed one episode that stuck with him. The cast’s plan was absurd, and as Dungeon Master he had no choice but to deal with it.

Critical Role takes a dirty turn in Campaign 3’s funniest episode

Campaign 3 is one of the more serious chapters in Critical Role history. The party, Bells Hells, wrestles with the mystery of Ruidus and the god-eater Predathos. In Episode 44, “Bawdy Basement Belligerence,” they have just come back from meeting members of the Grim Verity, a secret academic group in the city of Yios. Then they hear footsteps above their basement hideout. They conclude that the villainous Ruby Vanguard has followed them.

You might expect Bells Hells to fight or flee. The party picks a third option that nobody saw coming. They strip and pretend the Ruby Vanguard members, along with their pet air elemental, have walked in on the filming of a pornographic movie. It sounds ludicrous, and it is. It also ranks among the funniest and most unhinged moments of Campaign 3. The scene gets better as you watch the light in Mercer’s eyes fade when he realizes his players are committing to the plan.

“What was the sound, boys?” Imogen (Bailey), the Bells Hells’ Ruidusborne sorcerer, calls out to the delight of the rest of the cast. “We’re just getting started.”

“Aw yeah, we’re fully committed to fucking,” Riegel responds.

The player characters then try to convince an entity made of wind that they run a porn company. FCG (Riegel) supplies the lights for the production as an automaton. Chetney (Travis Willingham) transforms into his werewolf form and claims he’s there to “fix” the Bells Hells pool. The scene is absurd in the best way. The cast’s glee over their high rolls and Mercer’s facial expressions make it funnier.

Don’t misread Mercer’s pained expression, though. In the Dungeon Master’s Founders Favorite interview, he makes clear he’s exactly where he wants to be.

“That sort of escalation is a beautiful example of D&D, in my opinion,” Mercer says, and he is absolutely right. None of us at Polygon has Mercer’s experience as a Dungeon Master. Anyone who has run a game, though, knows the joy of watching players take the world and scenarios you built and mold them into something completely unexpected.

The episode also shows how player agency can challenge a Dungeon Master’s perspective. Mercer clearly did not expect his players to get out of a sticky situation by making it stickier. He still had to move the scenario forward while respecting their dice rolls. It worked out in his favor, since the half-elf and human accompanying the air elemental quickly figured out that Bells Hells were lying. The moment still delivered hilarious collaboration and levity. It also established that pornography is definitely a thing in Marquet. Lovely bit of worldbuilding, that.

It’s no surprise that “Bawdy Basement Belligerence” became one of Mercer’s favorite moments in Critical Role history. The episode highlights the beauty of improvisation in Dungeons & Dragons. Would a TV series or movie even consider this plan, let alone act it out? Perhaps. But it would be impossible to capture the magic of every actor, including the Dungeon Master, whose closest equivalent is a director, being unable to predict what comes next and acting on the fly to keep the story going.

Bells Hells did plenty more completely out-of-pocket things after this. Critical Role history is full of hysterical moments, but the basement pornographic film shoot will stand out as one of its best, in our eyes and in Mercer’s.

Critical Role Campaign 3: Bells Hells is available to stream on Beacon and YouTube.

Source: Polygon