The third season of the animated sequence The Legend of Vox Machina is now streaming in full, and the Essential Function role-playing crew is able to discuss it — with out digging into spoilers simply but.
On the annual Implausible 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 think about how their method to the present has modified over three seasons of rising involvement and rising confidence.
This interview has been edited for readability and concision.
Picture: Prime Video
Polygon: By the point you began making season 3 of Legend of Vox Machina, how had the method or your stage of enter modified when it comes to ensuring the present obtained 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 whole lot of instances, we’ll go into the writers room — we begin each season being like, These are the moments that it could be a dream to hit, with acknowledgement that we’d not get there, however attempting to honor loads from the marketing campaign as a lot as attainable.
I do really feel prefer it’s gotten smoother, within the sense that the wheels are greased now. It’s far more seamless. The writers we work with, the artists as nicely, they’re attending to know these characters as deeply as we’ve got. So I feel the method has change 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] Properly, 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.
Picture: Prime Video
O’Brien: And we’ve regarded 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 components from different locations to complement the Vox Machina story. That historical past exists, so it is smart that it could be in [the show].
Willingham: Yeah, I feel in seasons 1 and a pair of, we have been attempting to determine how we’d 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 take heed 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 completely 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 pair of have been about delivering the Briarwood arc and establishing the Chroma Conclave arc in a method that was very near devoted to the canonical illustration from the livestream. And now we’re attempting to unsettle our viewers a little bit bit, attempting 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 assume my character would try this, or say that”?
[All three, overlapping emphatically: “Oh yes / yeah / definitely”]
Willingham: On a regular basis. All the time. I’d say everyone seems to be so dialed into their characters that as we’re exploring this stuff — it may be as small as a dialogue tweak or change. Taliesin Jaffe might be among the finest at making his strains be as Percival de Rolo as attainable. However we’ll additionally give arc notes, emotional notes, we’ll ask questions, give solutions. We give motion solutions, generally: “My character wouldn’t combat up shut like this, they’d need to keep farther away.” “Don’t neglect about this factor that I used loads within the recreation.” All types of stuff.
Ray: Yeah, I feel we’re in a really distinctive scenario — and the writers will inform you a similar factor. It’s not usually when engaged on an adaptation that you just get not solely the manager producers and creators of the story within the room, but additionally the individuals who created the characters.
I feel early on, there was most likely a little bit little bit of nerves from among the writers on that, and being like, [long, nervous groan] I don’t need to mess this up. How a lot freedom do I’ve?? There was a studying curve for us as nicely, 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 sort of must nail in a single act of an episode.
Willingham: And now [the writers are] simply irreverent. They don’t care what we expect!
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 fantastically wrought that I feel all of us have been capable of chill out into it. On the flip facet, with the writers, I a number of instances keep in mind writers moreover us saying, “It’s so nice to have—” Properly, at first it was, Oh my God, the creators are right here. In case you’re writing Snow White, you don’t usually have Snow White within the room going, “That’s not what I’d do.” So it’s like having a inventive Clippy within the room, which you’ll both take heed to or—
Willingham: Or “Shut up!”
Ray: That [reference is] so 2005 of you.
“You appear to be attempting to put in writing a romance between these two characters!”
O’Brien: “Have you ever thought-about dying as an alternative?”
Within the spirit of killing your darlings, is there something your character did within the marketing campaign that you just have been sorry to lose within the adaptation?
Willingham: We haven’t touched on it, and I don’t know if we are going to, however — Grog’s bag of holding from the marketing campaign at this level had collected a grotesque variety of physique components. There have been orc limbs, there have been all types of monster appendages and guts, completely different rocks for no purpose, 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 appropriate 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 just a few of these folks, however there simply will not be loads of actual property, so we’ve needed to be economical with every little thing.
Ray: Yeah, that’s most likely the most important tragedy. Similar with NPCs. You’ll be able to’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 sort of got here out of nowhere, and weren’t nice folks. So there’s stuff like that. Perhaps we’ll see if we are able to honor it down the highway. There are even strains — I used to be truly simply speaking about this with one in every of our writers the opposite day. There are just a few strains, particularly of stuff that Taliesin had stated in-game, the place you’re like, “We’ve gotta get that in there.” And generally 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 via, and it’s only a single body of animation. I’m simply attempting to provide a nod to it.
Picture: Prime Video
What’s the flip facet of that? What did your character achieve on this season that you just have been enthusiastic about?
Ray: I imply, I feel the great thing about what we’re doing is, you possibly can present loads of views or issues that may’ve occurred that we didn’t actually act out within the recreation. In marketing campaign one, there was a time the place we sort of took an in-game yearlong break the place the characters went off, did different issues, achieved 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 sort of went, This occurred! Now she will be able to flip into an Earth elemental! Isn’t that cool? So I feel with the ability to flesh out — whenever you’re enjoying Dungeons & Dragons and also you stage up, loads of instances, it’s choosing a spell out of a ebook and writing it down and also you’re like, I can simply try this now. However the present permits us to discover how these characters get these skills 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 bath, which was sort 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 capturing on a present in New York. And so she was continually out and in, and she or he would miss components of the storyline. So we took a possibility to pad her storyline [in season 3] and actually carry 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.