[Commlist] Call for Chapter Proposals: Critical Essays on Critical Role

Call for Chapter Proposals: *Critical Essays on /Critical Role/*

Christopher Stuart, (stuartc /at/ uncw.edu) <mailto:(stuartc /at/ uncw.edu)>; Lauren 
Woolbright, (woolbrightle /at/ alma.edu) <mailto:(woolbrightle /at/ alma.edu)>; T 
Passwater, (thomaspasswater /at/ vt.edu) <mailto:(thomaspasswater /at/ vt.edu)>

Call Site: criticalrole.christuart.com

We seek proposals for an edited collection entitled *How Do We Want To 
Do This?: Critical Essays on /Critical Role/* We anticipate accepting 
work from a wide range of fields and perspectives from topics of gender 
expression to marketing communication on the cultural sensation that is 
/Critical Role/. Contributors to the collection will analyze /Critical 
Role/ as a brand, company, and/or media production.

/Critical Role/ is a creator-owned American web 
series-turned-brand helmed by famous voice actor Mathew Mercer. The show 
features a group of professional voice actors—and friends—playing 
Dungeons & Dragons together. This live-streamed show airing every 
Thursday night boasts an audience of millions worldwide, even with a 
runtime averaging around four hours. The show mixes long-form campaigns 
of over 100 episodes with individual one-shots and short, multi-episode 
campaigns. Originally airing on Felicia Day’s hub for all things geek, 
Geek and Sundry, the show quickly grew into its own company, Critical 
Role Productions, which not only produces /Critical Role/, but other 
creative programming and licensed products that extend from Dungeons & 
Dragons merchandise to a Kickstarter record-setting animated series, 
which is set to air on Amazon Prime. They have also produced campaign 
setting books, board games, and even created their own charity 
organization, in addition to their many philanthropic partnerships.

/Topics of Interest/

We invite creative pieces, ethnographies, and short narratives alongside 
our critical academic pieces. Please see guidelines below for submission 
details. We envision dividing the volume into the following sections, 
though we will consider essays on any topic related to /Critical 
Role/ and its impact:

*Proposed Section Titles:*

·State of the Role (marketing communication)

·Don’t Forget to Love Each Other (audience, inclusion)

·The Matt Mercer Effect (D&D, DMing, play)

·The World of Exandria (merch, publishing, game design)

We are interested in interdisciplinary, critical, scholarly essays, 
critical personal narratives and reflections, and counterstories that 
touch on a broad range of perspectives, including examinations of:

·The content of /Critical Role/, its narrative, gameplay and mechanics, 
and relationship to D&D

·/Critical Role/ as a company and a brand, its partnerships and 
collaborations, charity efforts, merchandising, etc.

·Media platforms for /Critical Role/ content (such as Twitch, YouTube, 
Twitter, and critrole.com) and how these spaces shape the content, its 
circulation, the participation of its fan communities

·/Critical Role/’s official social media presence or Critter social 
media spaces

·Contributions of the /Critical Role/ fan community—cosplay, fan art, 
GIFs, personal narratives, and convention events as well as the 
fanbase’s social media norms and interactions

·How /Critical Role/ as a company and a narrative grapples with 
representations of race, including within the narrative of /Critical 
Role/, the changing mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons, and how such issues 
are handled by the company and the fan communities

·Representations of gender, sexuality, and relationships associated with 
/Critical Role/ as a company, as a narrative, as a group of friends, and 
within its fan communities

/Submission Guidelines/

Please submit abstracts for articles or images, concept art, and 
detailed outlines for personal narratives of no more than 500 words 
to woolbrightle [at] alma [dot] edu with the *subject heading*: 
Submission for Critical Role Edited Collection.

*Abstract/Concept submission: October 11!*

*Submission Email:* woolbrightle [at] alma [dot] edu

If accepted, final submissions may take the form of:

·Cosplays or Photos paired with brief narrative essays up to 300 words

·Personal/Reflective essays and ethnographies of up to 1,500 words

·Critical essays of up to 6,000 words

*We will require ownership verification for all images.

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