I Talked to Taliesin Jaffe and Liam O'Brien About CRITICAL ROLE: THE CHRONICLES OF EXANDRIA - THE MIGHTY NEIN
Critical Role: The Chronicles of Exandria – The Mighty Nein is a hardcover art collection spanning over 250 pages of beautiful artwork by friends and fans of the popular Dungeons & Dragons podcast Critical Role. The book will be available in standard and deluxe editions starting on June 2. The standard edition will be available from your favorite stores including Amazon while the deluxe edition (featuring an annotated cloth map of the Dwendalian Empire, a faux-leather foil-stamped cover, and more) will only be available from the Critical Role website.
The Chronicles of Exandria was put together by a team led by the talents of Taliesin Jaffe and Liam O’Brien and I was lucky enough to ask both of them some questions which I have included below. We talk about the art book, The Mighty Nein, and more.
Taliesin
Tommy: What was the motivation behind creating Chronicles of Exandria?
Taliesin: I give Liam credit for that. It was just an offhand remark that “it would be so cool to collect all the stuff into a big tome”. But as we’ve learned here, it’s the offhand remarks that tend to turn into giant ridiculous projects. I am kind of blown away that we’ve managed to pull off more than one book!
Tommy: What was your favorite part of putting together this artbook?
Taliesin: For me, it was expanding on some of the lore. Filling the books with little Easter eggs, getting to release into the world some of the characters' backstory that never got addressed in the show.
Tommy: What’s your favorite piece, or top 3 pieces, for fans to look forward to?
Taliesin: Oh man, you can’t pick your favorite child.
Tommy: What’s your favorite moment to see art for?
Taliesin: My favorite thing is when people go off model and put the characters in different clothes. It’s like getting a brand new action figure, I love it.
Tommy: Did you know you have one of the most infectious laughs ever?
Taliesin: I’m on antibiotics. It should flare down in a couple weeks, but thanks.
Tommy: Have you seen something a fan did in a piece of art that wasn’t originally part of your character, but then you decided to add it?
Taliesin: Just in my head, the ever expanding wardrobe.
Tommy: You guys have featured a lot of indie RPGs on Critical Role. Out of those, do you have a favorite?
Taliesin: I feel like it would be inappropriate for me to pick one that I ran, so I am disqualifying Vampire and C.O.C. I got to give it to Honey Heist. It’s so ridiculous and so much fun!
Tommy: I’m a little behind, but I understand that some of Molly’s backstory has started to creep in here and there (particularly with the tarot cards). What is it like to experience that as Caduceus?
Taliesin: Man, Caduceus has a picture painted in his head of this guy that is so ridiculously far from the actual experience. Everyone’s been way too kind to the memory of Molly! But, to be fair, that tends to be true in real life as well. We often quickly forget a lot of the bullshit our friends put us through once they’re gone.
Tommy: How much of the lore of the Clay family were you involved in creating or did Matt already have that in the world and you decided to insert your character in it?
Taliesin: The lore was pretty much all from me. Matt, of course, gets to go over everything and make changes as he sees fit but he tends to give us a lot of room to play. I’m also in the habit of differentiating between what’s true and what the character believes to be true. That way if Matt wants to go in later and reveal that I’m wrong about everything it’s not conflicting to my backstory. Who knows if the story of the blooming grove is true? It’s not like Caduceus was a witness.
Tommy: During Mini Primetime, Will Friedle showed you some techniques to help shaky hands and you seemed to really appreciate it. Have you been able to do any mini painting since recording that episode?
Taliesin: Just the tiniest bit! I’ve got a couple pieces that I’m working on for some upcoming projects, but true story: right before CR started Matt, Marisha and I were painting some minis. We were planning on finishing in a couple weeks but they’re still sitting in his closet unfinished. It’s been a busy five years.
Tommy: When are we going to see more episodes of MAME Drop?
Taliesin: Oh man, we had to drop MAME Drop show to make creative space for some of the new stuff we’re developing. I think it’s probably gonna be a while before new episodes, but I’m sure the crazy stuff that’s coming down the track it’s gonna be more than worth it.
Liam
Tommy: Where did the idea for an art book by fans come from originally?
Liam: We started seeing fan art almost immediately back at the beginning. I pitched the idea of featuring some of it week to week in our episodes and just began gathering it up as it appeared. It didn’t take long for that stream of amazing art to grow into a full blown river and pretty quickly I had amassed a Fort Knox vault of awesome from all these talented Critters. We’ve always made things at Critical Role that we wanted to have ourselves and a coffee table art book of our D&D campaign was the first. I had actually made the cast a private Christmas present that first year, which was a photo book showing the evolution of our home game into the show and it included some of the earliest fan art from year one. We all still have those books on our shelves at home. The idea probably grew out of that.
Tommy: Were there any certain criteria for the art in the book?
Liam: Only that it helped tell a story. I love seeing so many different takes on the characters and moments of our campaign. Some of the art is in more of a comic book style, some much more painterly. And there are a million degrees in between. I love it all. When we set out to create the first art book, we decided on the major beats of the story we wanted to tell and looked for the pieces that helped us best recreate the narrative of Vox Machina’s story.
Tommy: What’s your favorite piece, or top 3 pieces, for fans to look forward to?
Liam: Almost all the art in the book has been featured on the show, but there are a handful of pieces that were made specifically for this latest collection. Gotta be those. But my lips are sealed beyond that.
Tommy: What’s your favorite moment to see art for?
Liam: I love seeing the quiet, intimate moments between characters brought to life. It’s like I can see the players having those moments all over again, only now they are tieflings and goblins and they are enveloped in a tangible fantasy world. I think when we’re playing the game, we don’t feel like ourselves half the time. We imagine ourselves in a second skin and can see the world of Exandria around us. And the art that Critters bless us with can often feel like magic snapshots of our invisible world.
Tommy: If, heaven forbid, Caleb dies during the campaign, have you given any thought to your next character?
Liam: Sort of..? I’ve been sitting on my next character for about a year and really love the idea. I’m torn, though. I think I’d prefer to save that one for a new campaign. I should, uh… probably start thinking of a back-up for my back-up.
Tommy: How much did you know about Mini Primetime and what was going to happen on the show before going into your episode?
Liam: Just that it was going to be weird. Will Friedle has a wickedly fast brain, and I had been told to expect the unexpected. I’m still not sure what happened, but painting did occur, I’m fairly certain.
Tommy: What’s it going to take to get the Gale Force 5 anime to become a reality? Also, was any GF5 artwork submitted?
Liam: Multidimensional synchronization.