Tom Morello Joins Critical Role for New Bard-Themed Adventure

Published Nov 11, 2026, 7:58 AM EST Aimee Hart is an Entertainment and Gaming staff writer here at Polygon. After watching the original trilogy at five, she decided to make Star Wars her entire personality and hasn't let go of the franchise since. Aimee also has a great love for Dungeons & Dragons and everything Critical Role. She has been a games, entertainment, tech, and culture reporter and critic for 10 years, with bylines at Inverse, Fanbyte, Rolling Stone, and many more. Critters have been looking forward to this classic team-up for quite some time Image: Prime Video The founders of Critical Role have always taken pride in shaking up the way they play tabletop role-playing games. But next week, a new adventure will push the cast and crew further than ever: a "Battle of the Bards," with Matthew Mercer as Game Master. Joining Mercer in this charity one-shot are fellow founders Ashley Johnson and Sam Riegel, along with an incredible lineup of musicians, including Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, K.Flay, Blake Roman, THOT SQUAD, and Wayne Brady, who also appeared in The Legend of Vox Machina as the magnificent Taryon Darrington. Donations made throughout the night will benefit the following charities: Comic Relief, Outright International, First Nations Development Institute, Shanti Bhavan, National Center for Women & Information Technology, The Pablove Foundation, and 826LA. Additionally, 10% of each donation will be set aside for an emergency fund to be used in the event of unforeseen natural disasters. What is Battle of the Bards all about? Image: Jacob Grimoire/Critical Role Battle of the Bards brings Critters back to Exandria, with Sam Riegel reprising his role as Scanlan Shorthalt, the lovably horny bard of the legendary adventuring party Vox Machina. Riegel will also serve as the game's co–Game Master. The summary of the adventure is as follows: Scanlan Shorthalt is hosting the competition of the century, in search for the next greatest entertainer (besides him, of course). Bards from across Exandria will come together to compete in challenges that will showcase their talents and push their limits. It’ll be a night of awe and spectacle where nothing will go wrong… Below is the full cast for Battle of the Bards. Matthew Mercer - Game Master Sam Riegel - Scanlan Shorthalt/Game Master Ashley Johnson - Bingo Tom Morello - Pastor Vindus Synn K.Flay - Yoraxori THOT SQUAD - Hunter-Mae Rutherford Blake Roman - Hellion Barkface Wayne Brady - Rakim Tremelo Critters will be able to donate to Critical Role’s charity organization, the Critical Role Foundation, throughout this week, right up until the game debuts on Nov. 17, when live in-game donations become unlockable. Pre-game donations will be closed an hour before the game starts, at 6 p.m. PT. Donors will be able to affect how the adventure unfolds through changes in the weather, inspiration for players, and more. Full details on what can be unlocked are available on Critical Role’s official website. At the time of writing, it’s unclear whether the one-shot will use the Daggerheart or Dungeons & Dragons system, though the official website's reference to both Mercer and Riegel as Game Masters leads us to assume it will use Daggerheart going forward. Regardless of the system, it’s hard not to enjoy the classic, entertaining idea of an “Oops, All Bards!” setup. Having played that exact combination, I can say a party where every player is a bard is far more diverse and creative than you might expect. How an all-bards team will fare for the Critical Role crew remains to be seen, but we can’t wait to find out when the one-shot premieres live on Beacon, Twitch, and YouTube on Tuesday, November 17th, at 7 p.m. PT.