State of the Role: Critical Role Return Updates 

"The cast is now 7-20 feet apart" So Laura finally has room for all her dice

It's over, Liam. Marisha's hands can't hurt you anymore.

The skeleton crew is a smart move. As all, we know skeletons are disease immune.

"... narrative telephone will continue..." *distant Ashley Johnson scream*

"The cast is now 7-20 feet apart" So Liam is now finally safe from Marisha's giant biceps.

Laura, alone, at a table COVERED with dice: *"These are my friends..."*

Marisha: We're coming back for episode 100! Me at episode 50: I have so much work to do

"The creature lunges at you!" "What?" "He lunges at you" "He throws a sponge at me?" " NO he LUNGES at you!" "Oh" *Taliesin rolls a nat 20 and has nobody to high five*

Idea: Sam shows up covered in pictures of Matt. It'll be his "HazMatt" suit

Liam's safe from being elbowed, slapped, and anything else Marisha could throw at him lol

A skeleton crew, eh? Good to know Taliesin has been keeping busy.

"Coming back for 100!" Me on episode 6: heck

Marisha: The cast is now at individual tables that are at least 7 to 20 feet apart. Liam: Finally....

I hope Sam has enough time to make face masks with Matt’s face printed on them

My question is: what are Sam’s D&D beyond ads going to be like now that he has to sit all the way across the studio?

I’m just gonna take a moment to appreciate how this is currently number NIEN on trending...

Plot Twist: Its actually just Brian dressed up as everyone on all 8 screens.

“Critical Role will be pre-taped for the time being” Me, from the UK: ah so normal then, is it Friday yet?

"If you need a refresher" Marisha we've been rewatching both campaigns now. We good

I was fine until she asked “is it Thursday yet?”. That just broke me. I’ve missed them all so much. Imma go cry now

Plot twist: Everyone has forgotten their accents

Please, please use two cans and a long string for the whisper moments.

VM: We haven't had an episode for months 😭😭 Me with 70 episodes left in season one: so your sayin' there's a chance I can catch up? Update: Exactly 2 years later and I have caught up! In the next couple of days I'll be watching episode 100!

Since I seen so many ask why they are going with distance gaming in the same room rather than just use webcams from home, I would like to share my guess. Since campaign 1, they never had the best luck with virtual gaming. Just look at what happened to Ashley the last episode of VM. Connection is also not always reliable. For example, in one of the episodes of Narrative Telephone during share and tell, Taliesin mentions he lost connection for a like a minute and could not hear anything. In one of the episodes in MN, Liam (who was remote at the time) was not able to make it to one of the sessions because they couldn't get a good set up with him. Plus lag will be a thing and I don't want to hear "can you repeat that?" and voices not being picked up constantly. I think overall they just want to avoid any technical difficulties as much as possible. Also, as someone who has played D&D in person and on discord, personally I just don't feel as engaged with my players compared to when we're in the same room and seeing everyone's faces. I get really distracted and tune out of the game more often during virtual play since I am in the comfort of my own home. Also, these guys thrive being near each other and it really affects they way they play into their characters. I think this set up was just more preferable to them. AGAIN, this is just speculation. I do not know anyone on CR personally. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Liam's finally safe from Marisha!

Shoulda just been around the same table except everyone is on monitors... And Ashley is the only one there in person

I'll be honest, "Is it Thursday yet?" hit me right in the feels. I didn't realize just how much I fully missed that phrase. I'm so glad CR is coming back soon. It's been such an integral part of my happiness over the last few years. The amazing and wonderful way that a bunch of nerdy ass voice actors can sit around a table (or at individual tables), playing dungeons and dragons, spinning eloquent, heart wrenching, glee enducing, sometimes stressful stories is just something that I'll never get over. Thank you all for all you do.

World: riots, viruses, world going to hell CR: "HERE COMES THE SUNSHINE, BABY!"

Plot twist: This has nothing to do with Covid, its just so Marisha can't hit Liam anymore.

What I’m imagining: Matt: “I NEED YOU ALL TO ROLL INITIATIVE!” Liam: “...WHAT!?...” Matt: “I SAID I NEED YOU ALL TO ROLL INITIATIVE!” Sam: “YOU NEED US TO ROW AN ITCHY SHIV?!?!” Matt: “INITIATIVE, INITIATIVE” Travis: “OH INITIATIVE OK”

"That's who is on the Tal' Dorei council." Love you Marisha

That last minute, when she's talking about missing d&d because it's a part of them, I feel that. My d&d group hasn't gotten back off the ground yet and it's killing me, I DM and making a story for my friends has been my most productive and satisfying outlet for creativity and how I blow off stress. Not having it during one of the most stressful times in our lives has been rough.

I'm going to cry when I'll hear them yell WE PLAY DUNGEONS AND DRAGOOOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOONS

Finally, the nation's leaders have an actual response to things.

Sam at 25 feet apart "hey now, this seems unfair"

I would watch Marisha play D&D solo- DM, players, everything.

Chant it with me, y’all: “Dragon Turtle! Dragon Turtle! DRAGON TURTLE! DRAGON TURTLE!”

So is Dani's refresher called, "Ninety-Nine with Mighty Nein?" If not, that was quite the lost opportunity.

I took a long break from crit role, and have just recently caught up thorugh about 10-15 episodes and have been loving the quarantine content in the meantime! I'm glad to hear you're coming back as I've been waiting for a month or so, and I know that others have been waiting for even longer, so I'm glad they're happy as well. Keeping up the stuff you've been doing is a welcome change and I'm glad you all have decided to make your return! I'm interested in how the episodes will work, but I have faith that things will run even more smoothly when you guys have some time to process the footage, and is in fact probably a much better idea for this show then streaming it live. All the content will hopefully still be there while there is less overall pressure on the cast to preform, and in terms of youtube content, I don't think this will really change anything for us that don't want to stand the ravages of twitch chat anyways (Y'all know who you are, I'm just saying. I'm an avid twitch watcher, but most of the time I choose to go full screen for CR). Thanks for all you do, hoping to see you soon!

ITS BEEN A WHILEEE

I'm looking forward to hearing " Hello everyone and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role"

UPDATE: _Tal Dorei Council knowledge acquired_ UPDATE: _Matthew Mercer's assassins have been sent to your location_

Its been so long without a Thursday that I almost forgot where it fits in the week! It's somewhere between Friday and Wednesday right?

In all honesty I fell in love with this show just through clips here and there and then when they stopped, I decided to listen to all the episodes through podcasts at work and when work told us we are gonna have to start working 60 hours weeks I started flying through episodes and I'm currently on 96 rn and I started in April

Guys, what if all this time Sam was planning the mother of DnD Beyond ads? We let him get too powerful.

Marisha: "So THAT'S who's on the Tal'Dorei council... Good to know." Matt at home: "So the Tal'Dorei council has been assassinated... Good to know."

4:48 all I can think of is the Egyptologist from "The Mummy" shouting "NOO! You must not read from the book!!!!!"

As long as it's still an uninterrupted game of 2+ hours, I'm fine with the game being pre-recorded. Even tho it won't be livestreamed, for archiving reasons it should still feel like it was.

"For the time being, Critical Role will be pre-taped." _laughs in my poor attempt of binge-watching_

Liam is going to feel the safest he ever has this campaign...

“Sips dead people tea” Ahh it’s almost Thursday again 😊

I watched all of season 1 back in the day, I got a couple dozen episodes in to season 2 but life got in the way and my priorities shifted. I'm glad you guys are still chugging along, thanks for all the good times, and congrats on 100

Questions: Will Laura have a big enough table for her dice? Will Liam finally be safe from Marisha’s Fury of Bo’s? Will Sam still do insane ads? Will Travis remember? Will Talisen use his powers to keep the crew safe? Will Matt have even less control of the group? All these questions and more will be answered on July 2nd on the next episode of Soap....err Critical Role.

"Is it Thursday yet?" Well actually yes it is... Looking forward to next Thursday with great anticipation.

You know its serious when Marisha has sleeves. Yay! Welcome back!

I just hit ep100. Glad y’all are staying safe. Looking forward to watching a live episode soonish. Thanks for helping me deal with the pandemic.

(After a long time)Ep 100 : DM: So .... you're encountering a giant Monster Cast : ...what dice do i roll again ? The people: perfection

"Other socially distant content like Narrative Telephone will continue..." thank god, I'm not sure I could handle losing narrative telephone right now

Without irony: Who else ist actually excited the literal first time in his/her life for a newsletter? 😍

Well, this will definitely be a 100th episode to remember. xD

IS IT THURSDAY YET?! "But it's Thursday right now." It's never Thursday if there's not a Critical Role to enjoy. It hasn't been Thursday for a long time...

"Is it thursday yet?" God that felt like the most uplifting gut punch.

This is perfect, because I took about a year-long break from the show, and I just caught back up.

I can't wait to see what craziness matt has come up with during the down time, I expect chaos, and amazing storytelling as always!

At long lost Liam doest haft to fear getting hit by marisha anymore!!!

Wait... So marisha can't smash into liam and travis now, and cause severe blunt trauma to either of them? Dang, the amount of safety just increased tenfold.

It would be so funny if everyone was just in hazmat suit for the whole show

"So that's who's on the Taldorei council. Good to know. Good to know."

Happy thought: for the period that Crit Role is being pre-recorded, there is a perpetual non-zero chance that the cast is playing at any given time!

If talison isnt wearing a plague doctor mask every episode I cant even

I wonder if pre-recording the shows means the episodes will be posted with complete captions? That would be amazing, I usually watch live but then have to rewatch VOD after it's been captioned, otherwise I miss a lot of the quiet moments :(

This makes me so happy. Obviously, you’re safety is way more important than the game. But still, it’s been a rough few months. 😪

The eternal Wednesday is almost over!!

Imagine if after all this anticipation the Dragon Turtle turns out to be Orlys great grandad and nothing happens.

So glad you guys are coming back. We've missed you just as much. I'm sure everyone knows what it's like to take a long hiatus mid campagin, but that just makes the first session back all the sweeter.

Even before "these uncertain times" I needed a refresher from Dani before each episode. It'll be nice to see a recap of the whole campaign.

I never thought I'd miss seeing the cast dab everytime they say "slash"

I totally didn't just tear up when she said "Is it Thursday yet?" ...nope, not at all. Seriously though, I'm so glad you guys came back on your own timeline and took the time to make it safe! So much love for this amazing cast and crew!

This news made me actually weep. I have been missing this all so goddamn much and really needed this in my life. Thank you all at the Crit Role team.

Me on like episode 23: “I need to catch up....”

With a pause as long like this, imagine the fanart section. It will take hours to show all those beautiful arts in 100th episode.

Lies, Matt would never leave the Tal’dorei council list laying out!!!!!

Any CR is better than no CR, but it won't be quite the same without Marisha and Liam being so close to each other that she can punch/elbow/slap him on the regular.

Really glad your coming back was a little frustrated that during this there wasn’t at least an attempt to do some remote one shots and content was little to none. Even if it would of been 1 person doing a gaming stream like the few Ashley did for the channel. Hoping the state, city does lock down again but if it does hopefully we can get more remote content than we did the last 4 months.

"Are you there Chris?" Chris: ... *Continues in stealth expertise*

I love how unabashedly dorky Marisha is when set loose by herself in front of the camera.

Actually so happy, Critical Role was always my weekly peace of mind/escape/self help time, it’s been really hard without it. It’s more than just story telling and role playing and I doubt I’m the only one who shares that sentiment. Its hard to explain other than this show “just helps me so much” and I’m so happy to have it back in my life again. Thanks for the work you all have done to bring this back during this chaotic time, it’s certainly appreciated by me.

That makes me so happy. Really nice that you found a way to continue the show in a way thats safe for talent and crew. Glad I didn't cancel my twitch sub for the last months.

"I know there's been a lot of curiosity about our return." Meanwhile, the TURTLE DRAGON CLIFF HANGER that's been vibing for for 3 months... In all seriousness, hope you're all doing well and staying safe.

the crew getting tested consists of each of them rolling a constitution saving throw

THANK YOU i almost caught up and was beginning to slow down as not to finish before the show continued :) stay safe

incredible. I just finished episode 99, literally less than 10 minutes ago, very late this Thursday night/Friday morning. For the show to make a return on July 2nd, it's like nothing changed for me at all.

Narrator: It was, in fact, Thursday.

My wife works in health, and we LOVE seeing these updates where people outline how they are protecting each other and their community.

Why not put Laura beside Travis(same table)? Same for Marisha/Matt can be a couple feet apart seperated by the DM wall. Would minimize the overall space needed so they can be closer to maps and what not.

I have so much catching up to do still. Glad you guys are coming back. Just starting episode 49. Its been a joy so far.

7-20 feet apart Finally Liam is out of Marisha’s melee range

As long as everyone there stays safe while all of this is going on, that's what really matters.

My family mostly lives far away and chronic depression keeps my friendships... more distant than I would like. Watching you guys every week feels like hanging out with friends. I miss it a lot. Thank you for taking care of yourselves. Thank you for taking care of each other. See you next thursday! 😄

I've been taking this time without fresh episodes to catch up. I'm still on 41 😭 been loving every moment though 😁