Have you ever wanted to watch an ad for over three hours? I assume most people would agree that this idea had never crossed their minds. Well, aside from people like my grandpa, who own countless DVDs full of old advertisements. Nevertheless, have you ever seen a Sam Riegel ad read? The guy is a literary and comedic gem. So, when I heard about his Generation Nord one-shot, I knew I was in for a real treat!
Who Journeyed into the Nordverse
Before we get into the story, we should know who is playing and their characters. I feel enough time has passed since the airing of this game that the secret guest, Matthew Lillard, can be included in this graph.
| Player | Character | Hackersonas |
| Sam Riegel | Game Master | BlackWillow69@aol.com (Not applicable in this one-shot) |
| Laura Bailey | Alex Peters | WyreWizzard |
| Aimee Carrero | Lilith Ferrera | Jinxx |
| Matthew Lillard | Emmanuel Goldstein | N/A |
| Christian Navarro | Wrigley Rincon | Rigglemethis89 |
| Liam O’Brien | Lucas Dankworth | NerfWormGrim01011 |
| Lou Wilson | Fontaine Savoy | CompostGuru |
The Story
The Generation Nord one-shot is derived from Riegel’s Nord by Nordwest: The Quest for the Ultra Kodex Reloaded recurring advertisements for Nord VPN. We are sent back in time to a simpler era. TLC’s “Waterfalls” won MTV’s Music Award for Video of the Year. The “Macarena” was a sensation, and Pogs were all the rage. That is right; we were back in 1995!
However, a super-secret computer virus is taking over the web known as RU1NAT1ON. It is not a scammy virus but a trolling one that does it for the “lulz”. So, who can stop a trolling virus bent on destruction? That is where the players come in. Four hacker teens and the dude with a car will take on RU1NAT1ON and make the Internet a safe place again!
Thoughts
I thought this one-shot was chaos at its finest. Lou Wilson is one of my favorite players over in Dimension 20 world, and I was excited to see what character he would create. Aimee Carrero has also found her way into my circle of favorite guest players. The team worked well together to avoid sticky situations and leaned into the ’90s references. Overall, this was a fun one-shot, and I think Riegel did an excellent job GMing.
Odds and Ends
If you want to watch this whacky one-shot, you can find it on YouTube and Twitch. For more Critical Role content, check out previous articles, including their most recent Red Nose Day event. Games are streamed Thursday nights at 7 pm Pacific with reruns posted at noon the following Monday on YouTube.
