Critical Role Announces Two New RPGs

Critical Role’s publishing arm, Darrington Press, has released a ‘State of the Press’ video announcing two new tabletop RPGs.

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Two new RPG systems we’ll be releasing: Illuminated Worlds, optimized for short story arcs and adaptable to myriad settings, and Daggerheart, a fresh take on fantasy RPGs with emphasis on longer campaigns and rich character options.

At Gen Con this year, you’ll be able to play AND purchase Queen by Midnight, and you’ll even be able to take our two upcoming RPGs for a spin. We hope to see you there!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

could even bankroll competition entirely if they wanted

Have any of their streams done big numbers? I watched the Journey to the Radiant Citadel adventure, but it was extremely OK compared to other live plays I've watched.

At this point, I think WotC may have used Marketing as their dump stat.

 

[Parmandur]

Currently it is.

In the future....???

Not too likely, particularly given their adult content focus. But that's OK.

 

[Aldarc]

Their home game started with a D&D 4E one-shot for Liam's birthday. When they decided to continue playing as a group they converted to Pathfinder. Which is why so much of Exandria's lore and gods is copy pasta from D&D 4E. They converted to D&D 5E pre-stream because it was simpler system than Pathfinder.

Ironically, I think that Exandria's use of the Dawn War pantheon has been done more harm than good for the Nentir Vale. There have been a handful of people here who expressed the opinion that Exandria made the Nentir Vale redundant. The death of the Dawn War pantheon in Critical Role would probably benefit both settings.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Wait they putting out a DnD competitor? Or simply a different game which isn't like DnD as they've done before?

 

[OakenHart]

I'm very interested in seeing how this turns out, I'm always open to checking out other takes on Fantasy RPGs. As an aside, it'd also allow them to do interviews without having to answer for a separate company they have nothing to do with other than happening to use the RPG system said company makes.

 

[briggart]

For what it's worth I got interested in 5e before ever hearing of CR, still have not watched a single episode and never will. I am certain they helped, as do so many others. Stranger Things probably helped more than CR.

Looks like CR took off from Feb 2019 to May 2020, by then 5e was pretty established already.

CriticalRole - Statistics

Twitch CriticalRole statistics and charts of activity, monthly concurrent viewers, views and followers growth.

twitchtracker.com

Those numbers seems bit weird. Campaign One ended in 2017, and CR already had a huge following by then. IIRC, they started within the Geek & Sundry family, so maybe they didn't have a CR-only channel before 2018?

More in general, in 2017 Nathan Stewart estimated than more than half of the people that picked up D&D with 5e came from streaming:

The rise of D&D liveplay is changing how fans approach roleplaying

From Stranger Things’ Dungeons & Dragons obsession to the YouTube and Twitch players becoming online celebrities, RPGs are now public entertainment

www.theverge.com

So maybe not CR specifically, but WotC definitely felt streaming was D&D main growth factor in the early years of 5e. It's possible than in the last few years D&D has risen enough to the general public attention, also due to things like Big Bang Theory and Stranger Things and covid, that streaming now contributes for only a small fraction of new players, but I think that without streaming (and CR specifically) 5e wouldn't had the initial momentum that was critical in the early years.

 

[Teemu]

Watching Critical Role here and there, it's painfully obvious how the wargame roots of D&D hamper the players' creative ideas. I could imagine Daggerheart being a much more freeform game that lets the players describe their actions and the rules are either very simple or allow the GM to adjudicate the resulting fiction on the fly.

 

[TheSword]

It's an interesting choice.

Put in the most basic terms ... most companies, other than WoTC/Hasbro, don't get rich making RPG products. And even there, it was only the unprecedented success of 5e that really allowed that in terms of sales of the system itself.

Critical Role doesn't make the bulk of their money from their campaign settings. No- they are about entertainment. On the one hand, they have a lot of people that love the entertainment. On the other hand, it seems like quite a gamble to risk the entertainment empire they have built in order to sell an RPG system. Sure, they get more control, but it doesn't seem worth it.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is a cunning strike. But if you've bet against D&D for the past 50 years, you would have lost a lot of money. And I don't think CR is going to be the one to change that.

My gut feeling is that this is less about selling a RPG - as you say they are primarily an entertainment business. Instead it is more about securing independence and autonomy for their brand.

It’s still a risk that they won’t recruit as many viewers if they’re playing a game people have never heard of. They could still operate the occasional spin off 5e based sessions but I’m sure they were feeling exposed with their brand being so closely associated with D&D.

If I’m right I would expect them to go all in, and switch their streamed games to their system. Surely no-one would release a system and then not choose to use it. That would strike me as really atrocious marketing.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Maybe is like one of those settings using two game systems, their own, and the universal d20/5e.

I understand CR wanted to keep their creative independence, but they also need the best vibes with Hasbro/WotC. A right parnetship deal should be good for both sides.

Now there is a serious rivalry between the different retroclones, but there is an almost empty space to be full, TTRPGs with leverling-up but not fantasy, for example Paizo's Starfinder and Everyday Heroes.

What if CR was used for "backdoor pilot episode for other gamelive shows? New PCs are introduced as "guest artists" and later these continue their adventures in a different show.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Ironically, I think that Exandria's use of the Dawn War pantheon has been done more harm than good for the Nentir Vale. There have been a handful of people here who expressed the opinion that Exandria made the Nentir Vale redundant. The death of the Dawn War pantheon in Critical Role would probably benefit both settings.

Exandria has borrowed a lot from other games. It’s Dark Elves with their reincarnation crystals are straight from Mystara