D&D General Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford Join Darrington Press

Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford have a new home, joining Critical Role’s Darrington Press. The LA Times was the first to report on the news of the pair joining Darrington in undisclosed roles. [UPDATE: Per Darrington Press, Perkins is Creative Director and Crawford is Game Director, matching their roles at Wizards.] According to the article, Perkins and Crawford were approached by Critical Role shortly after news broke that the pair were departing Wizards of the Coast.

I was committed to staying with Wizards until after D&D’s 50th anniversary, which gave me lots of time to work on succession planning and exit strategies,” Perkins told the LA Times. “What brought me out of retirement was the chance to work with Jeremy and the brilliant folks at Critical Role on things that have a lasting, positive impact on the world.”

“Chris and I talked about his retirement plan for years, so his approaching departure was long on my mind. When we sent the new D&D rule books to the printer last year, I felt it was time to explore a new chapter for myself,” Crawford added. “I love the game and its team, but 18 years is a long time. I was ready for a new adventure. The chapter that we’ve now opened feels like coming home — resuming work with Chris and returning to Southern California.”

Darrington Press just launched Daggerheart, a fantasy TTRPG that’s more narrative focused than D&D, but also has significant rules-crunch. Many have described Daggerheart as a rival to D&D, a comparison that will likely be made even more now that Darrington has snatched away two of D&D’s primary architects for the last 10+ years.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Wild, especially given that they're back in leadership-sounding roles - I could have seen them asking them for some adventure writing, as that'd be an easy sell ("From the writer of Curse of Strahd!" would sell some books). Moving them into your senior team suggests both that their team needed more people in it (Daggerheart selling well?) and that they have plenty of new projects that they feel veteran designers will help with.

There is presumably also the relationship aspect - from what I can tell, the two sides got on well, so maybe they just wanted to take the opportunity to throw their friends a bone and see if they can generate something useful for Darrington?

And people forget that Jeremy has written indie RPGs in the past. At least one (Blue Rose) but I think there others he worked on? Either way, I doubt they are married to traditional gaming, so I think we can expect to be surprised by what they do now.

 

[DarkCrisis]

Exactly. It helps communicates that Daggerheart is ready and willing to play in the big leagues, and not just be the indie game du jour.

And CR etc makes bank that they could afford their paychecks.

 

[Pedantic]

Hmm, maybe. The stuff I like about him is his worldbuilding, which -- per behind the scenes videos on Dropout -- he puts months of work into before the viewers see any of it.

I don't watch to see rules mastery -- honestly, as long as everyone is having fun, I don't really care about rules mastery -- but rather him saying "you know, I bet I can turn 5E into an urban fantasy set in New York City" and pulling it off beautifully.

Yeah, I agree. He's way better with more time to breathe. Worlds Beyond Number is definitely his best work, and it's no surprise it's his longest term project.

 

[Umbran]

This is worth it for Darrington for the PR and advertising alone. The huge market is of course in eating the D&D 5e player base and that's two huge names.

I think we, who talk about stuff online all the time, overestimate how much the bulk of the gaming community follows the business side of things to know what names are in what corporate roles.

 

[Afroconan]

Todd Kenreck just announced he has been laid off...

https://xcancel.com/ToddKenreck/status/1934697867710746686

Is there another round of layoffs incoming?

 

[Scribe]

Todd Kenreck just announced he has been laid off...

https://xcancel.com/ToddKenreck/status/1934697867710746686

Is there another round of layoffs incoming?

 

[Kramodlog]

They are both old and not necessarely in their prime. But they have name recognition, and that is certainly what Darrington paid for.

 

[zakael19]

I think we, who talk about stuff online all the time, overestimate how much the bulk of the gaming community follows the business side of things to know what names are in what corporate roles.

 

[Scribe]

They are both old and not necessarely in their prime. But they have name recognition, and that is certainly what Darrington paid for.

Its not like these are pro athletes looking to cash in on their physical prowess.

 

[abazaba]

I think we, who talk about stuff online all the time, overestimate how much the bulk of the gaming community follows the business side of things to know what names are in what corporate roles.

I think you are right, but still feel that Perkins and Crawford have been public facing figures for D&D / WotC in promotional material for long enough that people will at least still easily strongly associate them with the D&D brand.