Misfits and Magic 2 brings a 2-year joke to its logical conclusion

The opening to Exandria Unlimited: Calamity is famed among actual play fans — the lighting, the quiet intensity of Brennan Lee Mulligan’s narration — but what most people remember best is the simple one-word introduction: “Fire.” It is so punchy, so effective, that I can picture a thousand amateur GMs doing their very best to imitate Mulligan’s gravitas (I was one of them). What followed was the best actual play show I had ever seen. EXU: Calamity is funny, heartfelt, and atmospheric; it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime event, the new standard for what actual play could look like.

Then The Ravening War came out. Watching Matthew Mercer bring his own twisty, political plotting to the faster, more comedic tone of Dimension 20 was genuinely thrilling. Once again, I thought there would be nothing else like it — and then Aabria Iyengar brought us Burrow’s End. It is tense, horrifying, and more emotive than any piece of television I have ever seen. After being a player in both of the previous shows, Iyengar steps up with a bold fantasy world all her own. When I thought that things could not get any better, Iyengar managed to step it up once again.

Each of these shows has picked up on the elemental thread introduced in EXU: Calamity, with Mercer starting Ravening War with “water” and Iyengar starting Burrow’s End with “earth.” After all this, the trailer for Misfits and Magic season 2 began with “wind” — and though the show does not technically begin in that way, the incorporation of some fairly major “wind” elements in the episode does seem to tie it in as the conclusion to this little elemental saga. Beyond being an incredible gag, this joke is representative of an astonishing period of creative collaboration between Mulligan, Mercer, and Iyengar — three of the most influential TTRPG personalities on the internet passing the GM seat back and forth over a number of different shows — each one building on one another both creatively and technically.

The outcome of this collaboration is obvious to anyone watching along: The shows are getting better. Prior to this, most mainstream actual play shows reflected home games relatively closely. They were flashier, yes, with smooth improv and intricate battle maps, but at their core they were structured the same. People sat around a table, told stories, rolled dice, and sometimes moved minis. There is nothing wrong with this format — it has brought us some incredible shows. But the medium of actual play is young and the rules for what makes a show interesting are still being written. Mercer, Mulligan, and Iyengar are at the forefront of that conversation, writing the playbook for “good” actual play as they go. 

The freedom of player choice in EXU: Calamity is both baffling and frightening to me as a DM, with Brennan essentially allowing his players to decide the fate of Exandria. These moments are so well crafted, so considerate of each character’s motivations and wants, that they almost feel scripted. Ravening War draws from the same idea of player freedom, but lets the narrative play out over a period of years. Mercer gives his players the ability to change the course of the world and makes sure they have the in-universe time to do it. Burrow’s End uses this freedom to present a genuine mystery, which unfolds as the players discover more about the world. Mystery has always been a challenge in TTRPGs — the gulf between character knowledge and player knowledge tends to complicate things — but the mystery in Burrow’s End hinges on player choice.

Though they all have distinctive styles, they are clearly learning from one another. It takes a kind of trust to hand the reins over to another GM, and it takes a kind of humility to genuinely watch and learn from someone else. For Mercer, this has meant feeling more comfortable “opening up [his] world and trusting it to others” in the community, as he told Polygon over email. 

“Many of our conversations on storytelling and the methods we’ve all adopted over the years have continuously inspired me to throw a little more narrative power into the hands of the players,” Mercer says. “Classic gaming spaces always seemed to emphasize (and in many cases rely upon) the GM being in control of nearly all things outside of player action. It’s been freeing to find more places where the conversation between GM and player can be more flexible and collaborative to the overall world and story.”

These collaborations have been incredibly exciting as a viewer, but it seems that there was a similar level of excitement behind the scenes, with Mercer noting that there’s been an “eagerness to create together” since he, Iyengar, and Mulligan first met. “Getting to involve and surprise each other in these games is definitely a series of tiny love letters to each other’s ability.”

Recent releases from both Dimension 20 and Critical Role are full of little innovations. One of the most obvious changes is how these shows use set and prop design. Particular credit needs to go Iyengar here; her use of props, projections, and battle maps across her Dimension 20 seasons has consistently pushed what the medium is capable of. She brings personalized character props to Misfits and Magic and A Court of Fey & Flowers, projection effects and real-life jump scares to the Misfits and Magic Holiday Special, and voice-acted audio logs to Burrow’s End. Mulligan plays off that in his own way by introducing video game-esque cutscenes to Mentopolis.

While Critical Role has had its fair share of innovations in its set and production elements, it is most notable for how it engages with its world. Exandria has a huge scope, and Mercer has set about further developing that world through various miniseries and tie-in books. His collaborations with Mulligan and Iyengar have allowed Critical Role to build a rich anthology of stories, hopping through history and across Exandria. We have been able to see unexplored parts of the world and major events in history through these various miniseries, often with threads of plot and world-building woven throughout. This kind of deep, interconnected storytelling was not possible before, but recent years have seen Critical Role balloon out into a vast and compelling fantasy epic. 

Outside of the TTRPG space, Critical Role has expanded out into various novels, comic books, and, perhaps most notably, an animated show. These kinds of tie-ins are always a risk, but a careful and selective hand has kept them feeling refreshingly purposeful. “It felt natural in the ways we slowly opened up Exandria, allowing us to tell the stories of this massive, lively world outside the scope of the player-centric campaigns,” Mercer says, “all while collaborating with incredible artists and writers to see them through.” 

Though Misfits and Magic 2 may spell the end of the little saga (unless it’s Captain Planet rules, then we’re still waiting on heart) I doubt it spells the end of this innovative storytelling. With the rest of Misfits and Magic 2 still to come, and The Legend of Vox Machina season 3, the future looks bright.