If there's one thing guaranteed to get Critical Role fans hyped, it's a dramatic new opening for the company's incredibly popular actual-play Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. No matter whether you started right at the beginning with Campaign 1: Vox Machina or are jumping in as a newbie with Campaign 4, Critical Role's openings bring a dramatic flair that’s sure to get you pumped for whatever its cast is about to do for the next three to four hours.

More importantly, like every fantastic opening credits scene out there, Critical Role’s opening intros deliver superb storytelling — and not just about the characters they’re playing as, but also the people behind those characters.

The art of the start

If we rewind back to 2015, the first intro for Vox Machina captures the feeling of home videos. The cast, featuring all of the Critical Role’s founders, is dressed in leather or dark clothing, wearing scarves meant to represent long black cloaks and carrying toy swords and bows. They strike a pose meant to represent their characters; Liam O’Brien twirls two daggers, while Laura Bailey uses her bow to shoot........

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