Critical Role
“Midst,” the podcast series that “Moonward” builds upon, was originally created by Xen, Matt Roen, and Sara Wile. Critical Role acquired “Midst” in 2023, and “Moonward” is just one part of a larger story.
Spoiler alert: In the podcast’s third and fourth episodes, O’Brien’s character, Walden Orlock, contends with a boatload of personal trauma. But the series ends on a hopeful note, as Orlock, piloting his spaceship, manages to help get Wile’s character back to the relative safety of the planet of Midst.
Orlock, who O’Brien describes as a “nice, grumpy bear,” was a homage to some of the men in his family. And the inside of Walden’s spaceship was a tribute to the Burning Man community, of which O’Brien considers himself a “junior member.”
Robyn von Swank, courtesy of Critical Role
“Critical Role: Vox Machina — Stories Untold,” for one, is an anthology scheduled for release in March, and O’Brien wrote the foreword.
“We hope to get into original, brand-new things that have nothing to do with a table or dice,” O’Brien said. “And it’s all just different flavors of storytelling. And I love filling my days with it.”