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!

 

[Micah Sweet]

You could say that about literally every game company that exists that isn't Wizards.

They're likely making it because they want to make it, they can make it, and they think they'll at least break even on it or hopefully make a profit on it. It doesn't need to unseat D&D as the most popular RPG on the planet - or even come close to its numbers - to be a successful RPG.

Of course not. But they are a streaming game company. What benefit is there to create two games that cater to their signature style, but primarily stream some other game because its more popular? Most game companies that make their own games don't actively promote the games of others to a greater degree than their own, even if the money's good.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Because the goal isn't "beat D&D." What a strange question to ask, especially for someone who is often proselytizing for LevelUp. Morrus knew he wasn't going to beat D&D with LevelUp, but he found it worth doing anyway.

Morrus doesn't promote WotC D&D over Level Up or his other games.

 

[overgeeked]

They know -- everyoen knows -- that their new game is not going to unseat 5E is popularity

Why does everyone keep assuming that's even their only possible goal?

How ridiculously reductive. "Either they're the best or why bother!" It's an incredibly silly argument.

Look at Paizo. Their games are not more popular than D&D. They have not unseated WotC. And yet they make a lot of great games and make a lot of money.

and that a significant portion of their audience cares that they are playing 5E.

Most CR fans are fans of the cast, not the game. They didn't come to CR for D&D, they went to D&D because of CR.

Look at the viewership between 5E and non-5E games. It is about an order of magnitude.

No...it's not. Look at their YouTube channel. About three weeks ago an episode of Candela Obscura dropped and a CR episode dropped. The CO episode has 283,000 views. The CR episode has 662,000. Yes, the CR main campaign is bigger. No, it's not an order of magnitude. That also ignores that they're intentionally delaying CO dropping on YouTube VOD to push Twitch subscriptions to watch the show before it drops on YouTube.

Because the goal isn't "beat D&D." What a strange question to ask, especially for someone who is often proselytizing for LevelUp. Morrus knew he wasn't going to beat D&D with LevelUp, but he found it worth doing anyway.

Weird. You seem to be asking the same question in your post above, otherwise why bother mentioning "unseat[ing] 5E"?

 

[Reynard]

Of course not. But they are a streaming game company. What benefit is there to create two games that cater to their signature style, but primarily stream some other game because its more popular? Most game companies that make their own games don't actively promote the games of others to a greater degree than their own, even if the money's good.

Morrus doesn't promote WotC D&D over Level Up or his other games.

Oh, I see what you are saying. I think it is a mutually beneficial relationship. Again, look at the viewership numbers between 5E games and non 5E games.

 

[Reynard]

Weird. You seem to be asking the same question in your post above, otherwise why bother mentioning "unseat[ing] 5E"?

You seem to be confused. In all cases I was talking to @Micah Sweet about why they would make a game. I'm not sure how you a stringing my posts together to get to the idea that I was the one saying "don't bother."

 

[Micah Sweet]

Oh, I see what you are saying. I think it is a mutually beneficial relationship. Again, look at the viewership numbers between 5E games and non 5E games.

Yeah, I never said anyone was trying to "beat D&D". That's a losing proposition. But you should focus your attention on your own work if you want people to believe in it. Level Up in any case is designed with a high degree of compatibility with 5e, so it makes sense to still support it to a lesser degree. Neither of these new CR games are like that.

 

[Reynard]

Yeah, I never said anyone was trying to "beat D&D". That's a losing proposition. But you should focus your attention on your own work if you want people to believe in it. Level Up in any case is designed with a high degree of compatibility with 5e, so it makes sense to still support it to a lesser degree. Neither of these new CR games are like that.

It will be interesting to see what they do with them.

 

[OB1]

Most CR fans are fans of the cast, not the game. They didn't come to CR for D&D, they went to D&D because of CR.

No...it's not. Look at their YouTube channel. About three weeks ago an episode of Candela Obscura dropped and a CR episode dropped. The CO episode has 283,000 views. The CR episode has 662,000. Yes, the CR main campaign is bigger. No, it's not an order of magnitude. That also ignores that they're intentionally delaying CO dropping on YouTube VOD to push Twitch subscriptions to watch the show before it drops on YouTube.

You say most CR fans are fans of the cast, and then show that the cast attracts 400k fewer viewers when they're not playing D&D. I think that's a pretty strong argument for the opposite.

Now, you might say, well, that's because it wasn't the full cast in Candela. Okay, let's look at The Nautilus Ark, which featured the entire cast and is about 1M views behind the C3 episodes released around the same time a year ago.

Now all that said, I'll admit I have no idea how many viewers CR would lose if they move away from D&D. Heck, even with all the data CR has on their viewers, they may not know. And they might not care if they are less popular if they are happy playing their new system, as long as they keep enough viewers and purchasers to keep the business running. Look at Critical Hit, a very popular 4e podcast from 13 years ago, who didn't switch to 5e and now plays other systems, who aren't as popular as they once were, but are still going.

If they want to play it safe, they stay in D&D for at least one more campaign (and give Liam the opportunity to complete his sweep of the 4 core classes) while testing and perfecting Dagger Heart before switching over. It's easy to say they should switch right away when it's not your company and your livelihood that's at risk.

 

[overgeeked]

You say most CR fans are fans of the cast, and then show that the cast attracts 400k fewer viewers when they're not playing D&D. I think that's a pretty strong argument for the opposite.

Now, you might say, well, that's because it wasn't the full cast in Candela. Okay, let's look at The Nautilus Ark, which featured the entire cast and is about 1M views behind the C3 episodes released around the same time a year ago.

How many views has Nautilus Ark had? 1.9 million. Is there a D&D stream besides CR that’s ever had those numbers? Even a “bad” CR stream is wildly head-and-shoulders ahead of everyone else. Other D&D streams would kill for those numbers. Other game streams would kill for those numbers. And that’s “low” for CR. Assuming CR will crash and burn if they’re not playing D&D is silly.

If they want to play it safe, they stay in D&D for at least one more campaign (and give Liam the opportunity to complete his sweep of the 4 core classes) while testing and perfecting Dagger Heart before switching over. It's easy to say they should switch right away when it's not your company and your livelihood that's at risk.

I’m not saying they’ll switch immediately. They might. They might not. I don’t know. The current arc in CR is certainly pushing all the buttons you’d expect for a setting and system reset. Though I would be incredibly surprised if they start another campaign with D&D as their system.

 

[SteveC]

I'm disappointed about this as well. I am looking for a replacement for 5E that my groups will play and I already had interest in it. I don't think this is sounding like something I'm going to be interested in. Of course a lot more has to be released, but it went from a "I'm going to buy this" to "I'll check it out, but probably not."