Critical Role Fan Music Compilation

Critical Role fan music compilation

Unless you’ve spent hours trawling through YouTube in a desperate search for more Critical Role content, you may not be aware of the sheer amount of music that’s been inspired by the show. I’ve put together a list of my favourite CR fan music creators — some of them well-known, and some of them underviewed.

Colm McGuinness

You’ll recognize Welcome to Wildemount from the campaign 2 art reel, but his two other Critical Role-inspired songs, Trost and Ashkeeper, are both gorgeously atmospheric. 

darling-gypsum

I have a special place in my heart for The List [spoilers c1e24-26], a song about what’s going through Percy’s head after the feast with the Briarwoods — because it’s what convinced me to watch campaign 1. Say [spoilers c1e77] is also a wonderful Kimallura duet. 

The Cantata Pansophical

If you weren’t already aware that a group of amazing Critters rewrote the entirety of Hamilton to fit Vox Machina’s Chroma Conclave Arc, consider listening to Vox Machina: An Exandrian Musical immediately. Special shout-out also to their song In the Cobalt Soul, a cheesy monk training-montage song. 

ShortOneGaming

willing [spoilers c1e44] a song from Vax’s perspective in the Sunken Tomb, and Hell and Back [spoilers c1e72], a Perc’ahlia song, both have the potential to leave me in a puddle of tears. 

Aidan Chan

This composer has created a ton of orchestral Critical Role songs, including themes for every member of Vox Machina. Personal favourites include Sonata for Whitestone Castle (Percy’s Theme) and A New Kind of Hero (The Mighty Nein’s Theme).

Ian Fischer

I’m in love with his creepy and tender theme for one of my favourite c2 locations, The Blooming Grove [spoilers c2e28]. Also check out The Road to Zadash [c2e30]. 

Malirot

This pianist has written a handful of themes for c1 characters, including Wonder for Keyleth, The Tinkerer for Percy, and (my favourite!) an Anna Ripley theme. Her pieces are intricate and capture the characters perfectly. 

Noah Pacheco

I’ve linked to this guy before because he’s created the only Critical Role lo-fi beats that I know of. My favourite might be Mask [spoilers c2e18], but honestly, they’re all pretty amazing. 

Hollaback Nerds

It would be a goddamn travesty if I didn’t link the Mollymauk vs Caleb Ultimate Rap Battle [spoilers c2e26], right?

theRISEundaunted

This channel has inspiring and emotional musical themes for Yasha, Molly [spoilers c2e26], Fjord, and (personal favourite) Caleb. Again, they fit the characters absolutely beautifully and I’m kind of in love. 

Edgar Allan Joe

Oh shit, another song about Vax that’s making me want to cry? Hell yeah. Premature Requiem [spoilers c1e103] is a heartbreaking song about how Vax’s choices affect those closest to him. The same artist wrote a sweet Thank You song to Vox Machina. 

Captain Obvious

If you’re like me and love when important objects get their own soundtracks, check out this theme for the Beacon, A Fragment of Possibility, with a weird and sometimes disturbing techno ambience that’s entirely appropriate. The same creator has also written themes for Caleb and Fjord.

Gojimusic

Another composer working on themes for the Mighty Nein! My favourite of these is Fjord’s theme, Ballad of the Sea, which is the perfect accompaniment to his arc. Check out all the Ballads so far as well as the early versions of all the themes. 

Ginny Di

I think Ginny is pretty well-known for her amazing Jester cosplay videos, some of which include her singing, but my favourite song of hers will probably always be her Ruby of the Sea song (even though she didn’t manage to work in “the best lay ever”). 

There are a bunch of other artists whose stuff I love, but this post is long enough as it is! I hope you enjoy :)

After a year of watching CR, the cast’s panels and the Between the Sheets interviews… I think I can safely say that the most important lesson I’ve learned from them is how life-changing it can be to surround yourself with good people.

Surround yourself with people who are open and vocal about how much they love and admire you, who call themselves your biggest fan and who are there to support you through your path to greatness.

Surround yourself with people who enjoy their own interests unapologetically, who genuinely seek for the things that will make them happy and who are not restrained by what people will think of them. 

Surround yourself with people who aren’t afraid to show affection through words or physical gestures, who are shamelessly in love with their special other and who see that their love is a sign of strength, not weakness.

Surround yourself with people with healing energy, people who will listen to you attentively, who will offer a helping hand when the world is falling down around you, who will try their best to understand your struggles.

Surround yourself with people that are loud, who aren’t afraid to exist brightly and colorfully, who laugh and cry and have fun and feel with every fiber of their being. 

Most importantly, though, be that kind of person. Put positive energy into the world and you will find it coming back to you. This group of nerds is just a taste of what unapologetic genuine shameless love can accomplish. And I feel grateful every day for the reminder that there’s someone out there who, when you least expect it, will show up and love you and make life a thousand times better.

WTF, hOW Are All my favourite things trending AT the Same TIME??

???

I mean: Awesome, but still!!!

Therapists are just…. Common sense filters

There’s so much lifespan angst in CR Campaign 1, and so little in Campaign 2.  Part of that’s probably due to the fact that tieflings, half-orcs, and humans all tend towards a similar life expectancy give or take a couple of decades, and part of it’s the fact that the M9 are barely capable of thinking about next week at this point, let alone old age, but I think part of it is the fact that Caduceus (likely to outlive the rest of the party by a century or four, if he makes it through the next couple of years) is both utterly blase about death, and completely disconnected from, y’know, any practical sense of the passage of time.

Which means I keep coming back to the mental image of Keyleth far in the future, once even Pike and Scanlan are gone, visiting the Blooming Grove on Druid Business.  And sitting down to tea with a very pleasant, somewhat absent firbolg, who’s happy to talk about his dear friends he adventured with and loved very well once upon a time that might’ve been last week or a couple hundred years ago, whichever.

“This is the Jester we’re drinking now.  Sweet, of course, but surprisingly bitter if you overbrew it.  We’ve got some Beau that’s just dried out and ready for tea if you want something that brews up a little stronger, or the Caleb’s got a nice delicate sort of zing to it.”

It takes at least another half a cup of Caduceus talking about different tea blends before Keyleth figures out he didn’t just name his teas after his old adventuring party, he literally grew the plants on their corpses and somehow thinks that this is entirely normal and fine.

Do you think there are grouos of emo Hufflepuffs just wearing black (it IS a house color after all!) and their mascot is the honeybadger?