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I feel bad for anyone that came into Critical Role Campaign 4 expecting light-hearted fantasy entertainment. Although to be fair, any hopes they might've had for that were probably dashed by episode 4, when a player character bit the bullet (or whatever the Aramánian equivalent of a bullet is) on screen. The thing is, though, according to that player himself - the death of Occtis Tachonis was going to happen much earlier.

Before the game began, in fact. 

We're speaking, of course, about Critical Roler Alexander Ward, the creature-feature-actor-turned-core-campaign-player who brings the horror into the internet's most popular TTRPG actual play series. Ward recently appeared at Awesome Con 2026 where, alongside costars Taliesin Jaffe, Whitney Moore, Sam Riegel, and Luis Carazo, he peeled back the curtain on the plans that the cast made before the game started.

"I had planned, initially, to be dead at the start of the campaign," Ward revealed, "Then Brennan [Lee Mulligan, Campagn 4's GM], while I was in a bookstore, texted me and was like, 'What if I kill you on-screen?' And I was like, 'Hell yeah, do that.'"

Personally, reader, I absolutely dread my TTRPG characters being killed during a game, but hey, you do you Occtis. Although I will say - it doesn't seem like Ward had fun the entire time with his human wizard's demise.

"But the way it went down in the actual episode," Ward continued, "Brennan narrated it in a way that made me panic a little bit. He was like, 'Yeah, your soul comes apart,' and I was like, 'Oh, I'm for real dead. I've got to make a new character.' And I left the stage."

"It was a wonderful experience because even though I knew it was happening," he concluded, "The way he did it still surprised me. and I absolutely loved it."

We'll take your word for it, Alex.

Critical Role Campaign 4 is streaming now on the group's Beacon, YouTube, and Twitch channels. 

With two animated series on Prime Video, Campaign 4 in full swing, and so much more Exandrian lore to come, Critical Role is showing no signs of slowing down. That's why the adventuring party at Popverse are here to bring you everything we can from those nerdy-ass voice actors & Bo., including:

• Critical Role release schedule
• Critical Role's Campaign 4 characters ranked
• How to watch Critical Role in order
• Ways for you to relive the Critical Role panel from ECCC '26
• Taliesin Jaffe on playing Mollymauk Tealeaf for Campaign 2 vs. playing him for Prime Video
• Matt Mercer's homebrew warrior class (created originally for Vin Diesel)

...and much, much more. Roll initiative, player. Magic awaits.