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Sometimes finding yourself can be the hardest quest of all.

Luckily, tabletop RPG games like Dungeons & Dragons can make things easier.

If a player isn’t sure about their identity, RPG games allow them to try out different genders, personalities, and even sexual orientations.

Speaking to a crowd at The Legend Continues: A Critical Role Cast Panel at C2E2 2025, the Critical Role cast mused on the role tabletop games have with players exploring their identities. “I’ll also say, growing up playing tabletop games like this, I definitely know a lot of people I went to school with who used it as, beyond even empathy, as kind of a quiet litmus test for their friends to be like, how bad would this be if I started to have some personal questions out loud. It was a really good way of figuring out quietly who you can trust and who you can’t without giving the game away, so to speak,” Taliesin Jaffe said.

“It’s a great way to explore different facets of yourself in a very safe way, and kind of do their trial runs and really try it on a little bit,” Marisha Ray noted.

“The rules, and the walls, and the limitations are a construct. What I love about our time together on the table is that it takes all that away. We all contain multitudes, and there really is no reason to draw those hard lines. Why? The simplest thing is we’re all human and we all love each other,” Liam O’Brien said.

“It’s so important these days – especially these days, without being too political, to be so inclusive and diverse and open, and we love everyone in this audience and beyond,” Sam Riegel said. “You guys are the best, and it’s so great to have folks like you. I really love playing role-playing games in general, because it really gives you a chance to explore someone who is not like you and live in their skin and walk in their shoes.”

“I feel like it makes you a better person and a better human being to try out other ways of life like that and in an imagination place,” Riegel continued. “It’s been so rewarding, and it’s really opened my eyes to a whole bunch of folks that I would never had the opportunity to experience their way of life. I hope to keep doing it. It’s the best.”

“I think that’s one of the most beautiful things RPGs teach us outside of teamwork and all that stuff that we normally hear. It’s empathy,” Laura Bailey mused.

You can watch  The Legend Continues: A Critical Role Cast Panel from C2E2 2025's Main Stage for yourself, guaranteed by CGC x JSA, as part of Popverse's all-encompassing coverage of C2E2 2025.

Here's how to watch Critical Role in order.