You Have to Jump on The QuestJunkiesUK Hype Train

The Wildemount Chronicles, their latest campaign, is only one of many projects coming to fruition in 2023.

Five weeks ago, I was back on Twitch for the first time in a year. I wasn't streaming on Twitch and, frankly, "moved" to try my luck on YouTube. But that evening, I was back in my account waiting in chat for the first episode of a new D&D campaign to begin.

That campaign was The Wildemount Chronicles. This campaign is set in the vast world of Exandria - Critical Role's setting. Given the thousands of hours spent in this world across various campaigns, ancillary content, and even worldbuilding books, the world is rich with opportunity. One that Patch Kelly - the DM for this campaign and a longtime viewer of Critical Role - has taken.

The premiere taught me how accepted and functional the Critical Role model is. You start with a list of sponsors, thanks, and introductions, before getting into the actual meat of the episode - the story - before anything else. On a regular youtube video, that would never work. People would drop off or skip the announcements to get to the story. But when streaming live, you are locked in. And there's much justification for this hype on The Wildemount Chronicles.

The cast for The Wildemount Chronicles

Although the setting heavily relies on Critical Role's campaigns and not just the setting, I find it pleasantly friendly to people who have not seen the thousands of hours to catch up to Critical Role like myself.

Also, the fact it's a live show has an added element of interactiveness that I don't experience with Dimension 20 or even Critical Role. Those shows are prerecorded, and we cannot interact with the players. That's a whole other level of pros and cons, but for now, I'll just say I enjoy offering inspiration to a favorite character and receiving thanks on the show.

Some people also gift subscriptions that grant the chosen player a roll of the Wheel of Chaos. The results of that wheel could size a character up or down for the rest of the session, change their scores like "Oops, all charisma," which changes your CHA score to 20 until the end of the session, and more.

Update: As of July 2023, Quest Junkies decided to change the functionality of the wheel and instead of interrupting direct gameplay, each campaign will design a new wheel that will add effects determined via dice rolls to a pool where players can choose from in critical moments of the story. The rationale is that the wheel could subvert the story enough to deter the players from following the DM's planned plot.

The chemistry between the players works so well! They support each other, make fun together, and work exceptionally well to whomp Patch. The chemistry is served by Patch's skills as a DM. This campaign is not his first and certainly not last. A couple of sessions ago, Patch declared nine (!) new projects on the channel for 2023. That actually rivals some streaming service schedules.

The channel is supported by the community built on Twitch following Patch's original setting - The Rhodania Chronicles. A homebrew D&D 5e world created by Patch. It already has three seasons.

As of writing these words, I have a scheduled Interview with Patch and will include the link to the published interview when it's out.

So far, five episodes in, I'm enjoying the campaign very much and engaged with the community on Twitch and Discord - a very supportive and loving community! Highly recommended. Here's the first episode from QuestJunkiesUK's YouTube channel:

Let me know what you think in the comments below! Excited to write more as the campaign progresses!