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Critical Role's Travis Willingham lends his advice on avoiding burnout
When you're as busy as Critical Role's Travis Willingham is, you discover a thing or two about how not to overreach. Now, The Legend of Vox Machina's own Grog is sharing what he's learned
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The Critical Role cast takes burnout seriously. You might recall Popverse previously reporting on how their usual GM, Matt Mercer, avoids it as a creator, but he's hardly the only OG Roler with thoughts on the subject. Take Travis Willingham, for example, who has his own advice for any creatives (or really, just anyone at all) feeling worn down by our constantly overstimulating and overwhelming world.
Willingham shared his advice at Anime Frontier 2025, where he appeared alongside co-stars Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Liam O'Brien, Sam Riegel, and Taliesin Jaffe. Their panel took the form of a fan Q&A, and as it was winding down, an attending Critter asked the entire cast (who are quite busy themselves, mind you), how they staved off burnout.
"I think getting outside is key," said The Mighty Nein's Fjord Stone, "Getting in the sunshine is massive. Walking, like just feeling your body move. Figuring out how to get away from your phone is super important because there's a difference between, I think, social and geopolitical burnout and then creative burnout. They can sometimes overlap. So, if you have a big workload or if your bandwidth is maxed, the last thing you should be doing is looking at a news feed or checking out social media just to procrastinate or kill time. Put that thing away. Be with yourself and your thoughts. Go outside and hear the birds. Like, just reset."
What a druidic answer, Travis. Fearne Calloway would be proud.
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.
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