Legend of Vox Machina’s forged on taking part in Clippy for Crucial Position

The third season of the animated sequence The Legend of Vox Machina is now streaming in full, and the Crucial Position role-playing group is able to speak about it — with out digging into spoilers simply but.

On the annual Unbelievable Fest movie competition in Austin, Texas, Polygon sat down on the desk with Legend of Vox Machina writer-producer Travis Willingham (the voice of goliath barbarian Grog Strongjaw) and writers Marisha Ray (half-elf druid Keyleth), and Liam O’Brien (multiclass elf Vax’ildan) to unpack their private “regerts” and wins from The Legend of Vox Machina season 3 — and contemplate how their strategy to the present has modified over three seasons of rising involvement and rising confidence.

This interview has been edited for readability and concision.

Polygon: By the point you began making season 3 of Legend of Vox Machina, how had the method or your stage of enter modified by way of ensuring the present bought your characters proper?

Marisha Ray: We’re deeply, deeply within the weeds — particularly Travis and Sam Riegel, main the cost each step of the best way. The remainder of us have full management over our character voices. A variety of instances, we’ll go into the writers room — we begin each season being like, These are the moments that it might be a dream to hit, with acknowledgement that we would not get there, however making an attempt to honor lots from the marketing campaign as a lot as potential.

I do really feel prefer it’s gotten smoother, within the sense that the wheels are greased now. It’s way more seamless. The writers we work with, the artists as effectively, they’re attending to know these characters as deeply as now we have. So I feel the method has develop into much more of a well-oiled machine.

Liam O’Brien: I feel that Sam and Travis particularly have layers and layers of expertise now doing it, so nothing throws them. [To Travis] Effectively, I don’t know if issues threw you — however you simply are so skilled with it now that it’s that well-oiled machine Marisha talked about. Marisha and I’ve joined the fold as writers on the present, so we’ve simply gotten extra concerned in that method. [Marisha and Travis applaud lightly]

Travis Willingham: [Whispers] Golf clap. Golf clap.

O’Brien: And we’ve seemed for methods which you’ll discover on this present season — after the Vox Machina marketing campaign ended on our channel, we continued to inform tales, and the world and historical past simply ballooned outward and have become extra dense. And we’ve loved discovering little parts from different locations to complement the Vox Machina story. That historical past exists, so it is smart that it might be in [the show].

Willingham: Yeah, I feel in seasons 1 and a couple of, we have been making an attempt to determine how we might squish 25-plus hours of gameplay down into six hours, and we’ve figured that out now. In order that’s good. And the forged — they’re planted within the writers room like snipers. It’s nice to see them hearken to concepts which are being thrown out, storyline modifications which are being entertained, after which arising with dialogue on the fly and different concepts. [It’s great] simply watching that creativity spark backwards and forwards throughout the room.

However as Liam stated, I feel what’s most attention-grabbing about season 3 is that we’re beginning to pull in different issues from totally different components of the universe, to essentially tee up the place the brand new model of the story can go. I feel season 1 and a couple of have been about delivering the Briarwood arc and organising the Chroma Conclave arc in a method that was very near devoted to the canonical illustration from the livestream. And now we’re making an attempt to unsettle our viewers a little bit bit, making an attempt to make ’em guess about the place issues are going.

Can any of you consider something you sniped? Have you ever pointed at a change or a line of dialogue and stated, “Oh, I don’t suppose my character would do this, or say that”?

[All three, overlapping emphatically: “Oh yes / yeah / definitely”]

Willingham: On a regular basis. All the time. I might say everyone seems to be so dialed into their characters that as we’re exploring these items — it may be as small as a dialogue tweak or change. Taliesin Jaffe might be the most effective at making his traces be as Percival de Rolo as potential. However we’ll additionally give arc notes, emotional notes, we’ll ask questions, give ideas. We give motion ideas, typically: “My character wouldn’t combat up shut like this, they’d wish to keep farther away.” “Don’t overlook about this factor that I used lots within the sport.” All kinds of stuff.

Ray: Yeah, I feel we’re in a really distinctive state of affairs — and the writers will inform you a similar factor. It’s not usually when engaged on an adaptation that you simply get not solely the manager producers and creators of the story within the room, but in addition the individuals who created the characters.

I feel early on, there was most likely a little bit little bit of nerves from a few of the writers on that, and being like, [long, nervous groan] I don’t wish to mess this up. How a lot freedom do I’ve?? There was a studying curve for us as effectively, to know that some issues that have been very nuanced, or took an extremely lengthy period of time to develop within the marketing campaign, you form of must nail in a single act of an episode.

Willingham: And now [the writers are] simply irreverent. They don’t care what we predict!

O’Brien: It was a studying curve. I keep in mind early within the course of of constructing the animated reveals, going, Nnnnng! I’m holding my child so tightly! However at this level, it’s confirmed, and the guts and the essence of the story is so superbly wrought that I feel all of us have been in a position to loosen up into it. On the flip aspect, with the writers, I a number of instances keep in mind writers in addition to us saying, “It’s so nice to have—” Effectively, at first it was, Oh my God, the creators are right here. In the event you’re writing Snow White, you don’t sometimes have Snow White within the room going, “That’s not what I might do.” So it’s like having a inventive Clippy within the room, which you’ll both hearken to or—

Willingham: Or “Shut up!”

Ray: That [reference is] so 2005 of you.

“You appear to be making an attempt to jot down a romance between these two characters!”

O’Brien: “Have you ever thought-about dying as a substitute?”

Within the spirit of killing your darlings, is there something your character did within the marketing campaign that you simply have been sorry to lose within the adaptation?

Willingham: We haven’t touched on it, and I don’t know if we’ll, however — Grog’s bag of holding from the marketing campaign at this level had accrued a grotesque variety of physique components. There have been orc limbs, there have been all kinds of monster appendages and guts, totally different rocks for no cause, items of armor. And, y’know, it’s not refrigerated in there. So issues would come out in, as Matthew Mercer likes to say, a slaw. We by no means fairly discovered the fitting second to make that bag as disgusting because it probably may have been. It’s simply an 80-gallon bucket of clam chowder.

O’Brien: As a result of issues are so condensed, there have been many visitor gamers at our desk through the years that we haven’t discovered a method [to get onto the show]. Like, Felicia Day as Lyra the wizard stands out in my reminiscence. We’ve pulled in a couple of of these individuals, however there simply is just not quite a lot of actual property, so we’ve needed to be economical with the whole lot.

Ray: Yeah, that’s most likely the largest tragedy. Similar with NPCs. You possibly can’t all the time match all of ’em. Generally we attempt to mix NPCs, or moments, even. We haven’t gone into something with the Trickfoots with Pike, and the way they form of got here out of nowhere, and weren’t nice individuals. So there’s stuff like that. Perhaps we’ll see if we will honor it down the street. There are even traces — I used to be really simply speaking about this with one in all our writers the opposite day. There are a couple of traces, particularly of stuff that Taliesin had stated in-game, the place you’re like, “We’ve gotta get that in there.” And typically even with particular person one-liners, you’re like, “However how?” [Everyone laughs] “It’s not related!” You attempt to discover it, although.

O’Brien: Generally we attempt to seize one thing that took a few episodes or video games to get by means of, and it’s only a single body of animation. I’m simply making an attempt to provide a nod to it.

What’s the flip aspect of that? What did your character achieve on this season that you simply have been enthusiastic about?

Ray: I imply, I feel the great thing about what we’re doing is, you possibly can present quite a lot of views or issues that may’ve occurred that we didn’t actually act out within the sport. In marketing campaign one, there was a time the place we form of took an in-game yearlong break the place the characters went off, did different issues, completed some private drives that they’d, and we get to see that. So with Keyleth, you get to see her journey to the Earth Ashari, and undergo her Earth Ashari trials.

That was one thing within the marketing campaign that we simply form of went, This occurred! Now she will flip into an Earth elemental! Isn’t that cool? So I feel having the ability to flesh out — while you’re taking part in Dungeons & Dragons and also you stage up, quite a lot of instances, it’s choosing a spell out of a ebook and writing it down and also you’re like, I can simply do this now. However the present permits us to discover how these characters get these talents and develop. I feel that’s all the time enjoyable.

O’Brien: I similar to Vax’s persevering with evolution in his relationship with the Matron of Ravens, and the place he ends the season, the place it’s much less of a cat being dragged kicking and screaming into a tub, which was form of season 2 for him, and extra coming to phrases with it.

Willingham: The factor I really like isn’t essentially for Grog. However for Pike Trickfoot — Ashley Johnson wasn’t round very a lot [in season 2] due to her taking pictures on a present in New York. And so she was consistently out and in, and he or she would miss components of the storyline. So we took a chance to pad her storyline [in season 3] and actually convey her extra into the best way season 3 develops. In future seasons, we actually tee her up properly for a bit extra of a meatier bone to chew. And she or he’s such a power of nature that placing the screws to Ashley is all the time going to be actually enjoyable to observe. So I feel that’s the factor I like probably the most.

O’Brien: I’ll additionally toss in that what I really like about season 3, is the development of the romantic threads, the place they go, how they relate to one another. The place they finish on this marketing campaign is fairly unimaginable.