What You Need to Know Before Watching Exandria Unlimited

Welcome adventurers, to this guide of everything you need to know before watching Exandria Unlimited! If you’d like to check out our full announcement for the show, you can find it right here.

First things first! You don’t really need to know anything before you watch Exandria Unlimited. You can jump in completely fresh! Some of our players will be journeying into Exandria for the very first time as well. But if you want to know a little more, read on!

What is Exandria Unlimited?

Turst Fields art by Caio Santos

Exandria Unlimited is the newest eight episode mini-campaign brought to you by, and existing within, the same world as Critical Role. Following a fresh-faced and freshly formed crew of characters, this adventure begins in Emon, a city still recovering from the scars of the Chroma Conclave attack nearly 30 years later.

Who are the players of Exandria Unlimited?

Heirlume Photography

Exandria Unlimited stars our very own Ashley Johnson, Liam O’Brien, and Matthew Mercer alongside veteran voice actors Aimee Carrero, Robbie Daymond, and Game Master Aabria Iyengar.

We are so excited to have Aabria, Aimee, and Robbie crafting adventures with us and for you to meet them… so check out the video below to do just that!

I’ve never watched a tabletop roleplaying show before. What should I know?

Tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) are built upon collaborative storytelling. A Game Master (GM) performs the role of both narrator and architect creating characters, locations, and adventures for the players who in turn create compelling characters with their own motivations. Exandria Unlimited uses 5th Edition D&D which means that success is determined by the roll of the dice and the contents of the player’s character sheets. If you are curious about D&D and would like to learn more, check out our series Handbooker Helper that teaches the basics. It’s important to remember that rules within any TTRPG are merely guidelines and subject to interpretation based on the GM and the players at the table.

Roleplaying is collaboration and trust in its most basic form. It’s believing in magic and chasing it down. It’s incredible one-of-a-kind stories that are unique to the table they’re told around. The best part about TTRPGs? Everyone plays differently, and there’s magic to be found at every table in every style. We highly recommend playing for yourself, and are also happy to have you along for the ride on our adventures.

Anything else I should know?

Okay, so we definitely said you don’t need to know anything from the Critical Role campaigns before you watch Exandria Unlimited, and that’s still very true. However, if you want to know a little bit about the setting and how Exandria Unlimited falls in the larger Critical Role timeline, our very own Lore Keeper Dani Carr has provided an incredible background to the series that provides a quick hit of Exandrian history. Please note that the following lore does contain spoilers for Campaign 1. Take it away, Dani!

The canon timeline of Exandria

Here in the world of Exandria, beings both wondrous and terrifying roam the land and seas, magic weaves through the foundation of life, and epic adventure can spark from even the smallest of choices. The influence of the gods is filtered through their self-imposed exile behind the Divine Gate, but their magic still flows in a chosen few.

This adventure begins on the continent of Tal’Dorei, in the city of Emon, nearly 30 years after the attack of the Chroma Conclave – a group of chromatic dragons bent on ruling the world. They were led by Thordak, the Cinder King, an ancient red dragon who made Emon his seat of power. Though the Chroma Conclave were eventually defeated by the legendary adventurers known as Vox Machina, the damage of Thordak’s reign still marks Emon.

The city has mostly recovered in the intervening years, but two areas still bear the brunt of his wrath: the Cloudtop District, where Thordak’s Crater contains a smoldering entrance to fiery caverns below, and the outskirts of town, where the Scar of the Cinder King still wounds the land outside Emon’s walls. These sections are mostly healed, but even the Fire Ashari’s powerful elemental magic have not fully returned the areas to normal.

Exandria is a land marked by the wilds of magic, power, and potential. In Exandria Unlimited, five adventurers will take their first steps toward greatness…but it is their choices that will determine whether they rise to the challenges that await them, or fall to the untold dangers of Tal’Dorei’s uncharted corners…

While some locations, historical events, and possibly even characters may be familiar to folks who have watched along on previous Critical Role adventures, for the purposes of Exandria Unlimited, that’s all a backdrop to a new story resting in the hands of the incredible Aabria Iyengar and the Exandria Unlimited players. We cannot wait to see where their story takes us.

That’s it, adventurers! You now know everything you need to know before diving into Exandria Unlimited. We’ll save you a digital seat this Thursday, June 24th at 7pm Pacific on Twitch and YouTube.

Welcome to Exandria!