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Critical Role had helped bring the fantasy sports crowd into D&D, according to Matt Mercer

You can be a massive sports fan and love D&D thanks to Actual Play shows like Critical Role

PAX East 2026 Critical Role Matt Mercer Header — Image credit: Critical Role Productions / Popverse

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Fri Apr 03 2026

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Those who grew up in the early days of Dungeons & Dragons will remember the strict divide between the jocks and D&D players. The two were in opposing camps, and there could be no parlay between them. However, that has been slowly changing as D&D moves more into the mainstream, and Matt Mercer says that Critical Role has been part of the cooling tensions as he’s seen the fantasy sports crowd flocking to traditional nerd spaces for years now.

We spoke to Matt Mercer about the impact of Critical Role and the actual play industry had on the tabletop industry at PAX East 2026. He commented that the hobby has been growing beyond the typical crowd and now encompasses people who would normally spend their time obsessing about sports.

“So Actual Play has allowed that experience to be widely available, widely inviting, and that - combined with the 5th Edition D&D being the most accessible version of those rules on top of just like the legacy of D&D - all that together made for a massive explosion in tabletop’s acceptance and excitement in pop culture in general,” Mercer reasoned.

Actual Play games, streamed on sites like Twitch or YouTube, helped fuel this explosion, which Mercer says has made D&D more acceptable for people who normally wouldn’t want to play it at all.

“As time’s gone on, we’ve talked to more people and seen some more stuff. It’s like, 'oh, we had a much bigger impact than we anticipated, and that’s really exciting,” he continued. “I’m grateful for the permission and the invite that it’s been for so many people that otherwise would never have encountered [tabletop games] or would never have assumed it was something that they can get into. I mean that classically non-geek pop culture spaces, you know? People that are like, ‘Oh, I never play D&D. I’m more of a sports guy.’ But yet, there are so many great people that are like, oh no, I love this, and there are things that are similar to the way I love my fantasy sports and this thing, and it’s once again just that permission to break that boundary.”

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