In recent years, Critical Role has become something of a titan in the tabletop fandom. Often credited as being the primary driving force behind the resurgence of the latest Golden Age of tabletop gaming, the company is generally highly regarded by the Dungeons and Dragons community.
Last month, an individual came forward with accusations towards the well-liked company – an individual of whom we won’t name, as much of the controversy has simply served as publicity for this individual.
In short, this accuser was a known member of the Critical Role fandom/community who many have considered a problematic member for a variety of reasons. Reaching out to Critical Role in private messages, the accuser offered their services as a “sensitivity consultant” for the company.
After the conversation, the accuser posted screenshots of the conversation and demonize Critical Role for failing to pay them for their “services” of consultation. Much of the community, of whom have generally sided with Critical Role, was quick to point out that there was no point in these screenshots in which Critical Role agreed to hire or pay the individual.
Responding to the incident, Critical Role announced late last month that they would be launching a full investigation into the matter. This announcement came through a now-deleted tweet on their official Twitter account.
Now, not too long after that original announcement, Critical Role has announced the results of their investigation. The result, surprising few people familiar with the controversy, is that no sort of agreement was ever met or suggested to employ or pay the individual.
“After months of casual interaction, the individual made an inquiry to the Critical Role employee about possibly being engaged by Critical Role as a consultant to the company,” reads the official statement. “Upon receiving this request, the Critical Role employee immediately and clearly declined the request.”
Much of this “consulting” was apparently intended to focus around bullying and toxicity in the fandom, which has certainly had struggles with such things – as any fandom as large as Critical Role’s will inevitably, and unfortunately, have to deal with.
Those that are familiar with the community know that this sort of behavior is strongly discouraged, and all members of the Critical Role team – both those that sit center stage and those that work off camera – are extremely outspoken about creating an inclusive, positive community.
With any luck, this statement will put a full end to the situation and allow the controversy to die down.
