Critical Role Announces Age of Umbra Daggerheart Campaign, Starting May 29th

I don't think any of them were wealthy before the show hit it big - the stories of their home games often mention Mercer's small apartment, and all of them were working voice actors and basically hustling for a living. Successful in their field (except Ray, who is a bit younger and was just getting started), but voice acting is very much gig work.

I'm of mixed feelings on Daggerheart. I'm a Critical Role fan, but D&D has so much inertia that it would be a lot of work and expense to switch to another fantasy RPG. I also think it is a more challenging ask for my school beginner campaign.

Part of the pleasure of Critical Role, for me, is that they are playing this game that I have known since I was a kid. I have enjoyed the episodes where they play other systems, but I do miss the comfort of knowing exactly what is happening in terms of mechanics. I think it is pretty risky for them to switch to a different system, but now that they have their own TTRPG, it'll be hard for them to keep playing what will essentially be their competitor's product.

Clint_L said:

I also think it is a more challenging ask for my school beginner campaign.

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From what I've seen, getting new players to try completely different rules is far easier than asking people with 10+ years experience in doing so — especially if one has mainly played one "game" with different flavours. Old GM trying new rules and explaining them to new people can also be a difficult in the same way, no doubt about that and that can be a big issue.

But new people have very little problem no matter if it's rules light or crunchy as heck, they just leap in.

I think it's incredibly unlikely that CR swap to Daggerheart for their main campaign. The question is not whether they will lose viewers doing so - they will - the question is how many?

What tends to get overlooked in the various Daggerheart vs D&D discussions is that the CR viewership has a very significant fault line: those who got into CR though D&D and those who got into D&D through CR.
The overwhelming majority of viewers who started with Vox Machina fall into the first group, and the show started gaining traction, but a sizeable chunk of potential viewers didn't want to join part way through the campaign. Campaign 2 was the onboarding for them, but it also saw an increase in viewership from those who got into CR as a streaming show primarily and this was especially so during covid lockdown. Post covid saw a drop-off from people who didn't have time to commit to the show anymore and Campaign 3 saw continuous incremental loss due a variety of reasons. But that split is still there. There are those who will continue to watch CR for a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors (NAVAs) no matter what they play, but there are also those who very specifically need the combination of NAVAs and D&D.

Speaking for myself, I have no interest in Daggerheart, so if they do switch, I'll tune out, and I'm not the only one judging by various conversations around the web. However, I suspect the CR crew realise this and will stick with D&D for the main campaign, and use Daggerheart for various mini-campaigns like they've done with Candela Obscura.

I think it would be more fun for them to play a game that fits with their playstyle rather than the struggle they sometimes have now.

For me them playing DnD 5e or Daggerhart doesn't matter, I'm not a player so I don't interact with the rules. I don't need to feel I know all the words of the feat they used as much as they're having fun and are allowed to do cool things.

I do feel like Critical Role is in a bit of a bind.

If they do switch their multi-year campaign to DH, they will definitely lose those people who were tuning into watch a "bunch of nerdy ass voice actors playing DND." Another issue, I think, is that the popularity of the show and the game will be tied together. If the game does poorly, it has the risk of brining down the show. If the show does poorly, even if the game is good, it has the risk of tanking the game—though maybe this is less of a concern, since enough people have made pre-orders?

If they stay with DND, wouldn't it seem like they don't fully believe in their product? Though maybe the world is getting tired of DND and wants something new, so staying with DND might lose people too.

All that said, I wouldn't be surprised if Critical Role switches to a model similar to Dimension 20, with shorter seasons, rather than locking themselves into these multi-year campaigns they've been doing. The Dimension 20 model would give them the freedom to run games in DND, Daggerheart, Candela, or whatever else they want to, without having to worry (too much) about whether WotC does something awful or whether Daggerheart does well.

I have received a link to a copy of Daggerheart PDF, read Age of Umbra description.

The premise is interesting, a Dark Souls vibe is strong with that one (human pride doomed the world, gods are gone, those who die return as monstrous revenants, remnant folk do the Last of Us 2 impressions, ancient secrets still haunt the people, gothic architecture - yes, please, lurking darkness keeps you on your toes) though fairy tale aspects are still present (most abilities work unchanged).

Overall, it looks like a great effort.

The URLs:

definiteFreakyFishGuy said:

I do feel like Critical Role is in a bit of a bind.

If they do switch their multi-year campaign to DH, they will definitely lose those people who were tuning into watch a "bunch of nerdy ass voice actors playing DND." Another issue, I think, is that the popularity of the show and the game will be tied together. If the game does poorly, it has the risk of brining down the show. If the show does poorly, even if the game is good, it has the risk of tanking the game—though maybe this is less of a concern, since enough people have made pre-orders?

If they stay with DND, wouldn't it seem like they don't fully believe in their product? Though maybe the world is getting tired of DND and wants something new, so staying with DND might lose people too.

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That's the crux of it. Any argument people can make about audience sticking with CR regardless of system also applies to Daggerheart as well as any version of D&D. Any argument people can make about audience abandoning CR because of switching systems also applies to whichever version of 5E they use.

No matter what they do they will lose audience. Stick with 2014 D&D, lose audience. Switch to 2024 D&D, lose audience. Switch to Daggerheart, lose audience. So, to me, the choice seems blindingly obvious. Switch to Daggerheart and support the game they designed from the ground up to play in exactly the style they want. It's a no-brainer. Why design an RPG that perfectly matches your group's narrative-first playstyle then not use it.

definiteFreakyFishGuy said:

All that said, I wouldn't be surprised if Critical Role switches to a model similar to Dimension 20, with shorter seasons, rather than locking themselves into these multi-year campaigns they've been doing. The Dimension 20 model would give them the freedom to run games in DND, Daggerheart, Candela, or whatever else they want to, without having to worry (too much) about whether WotC does something awful or whether Daggerheart does well.

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Maybe. Maybe not. I can see that going either way. Likely something shorter than their previous campaigns, sure. But I'd be absolutely shocked if they switched to something as short as 8-10 episodes and that's it.

Using the old oneshots as a comparison or even the EXU mini-series are also bad data. Oneshots or miniseries are not longform with serious characters and developments which is why a lot of people watch. And also I think this might be their first mini-series that feature all the main cast without guests, so there's really no data about the drop on that either before now.

I do think the way forwards is to do what they like and let the audience be what it will be. (But I hope they compromise and make their long campaigns yearlong rather than three.)