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.

 

[Reynard]

One thing I hope Crawford and Perkins do NOT bring over from their 5E years is 5E style adventures for DH. DH is a play to find out game. They need a different kind of product to highlight that. Railroad pre-packaged campaigns aren't going to work.

 

[Mercador]

Is Darrington Press the new Paizo?

 

[Neonchameleon]

To me the biggest potential problem with Daggerheart is turning the success of the core rulebook into a line. The Daggerheart rulebook can't be kept on shelves right now - but where will it be in a year's time and how will they keep up the enthusiasm? If the Daggerheart core rulebook is it then in three years time then no matter how good it is (and it is good) it will mostly be a "remember that thing?" other than to a few enthusiasts.

And that's what Crawford and Perkins have the most experience with. Perkins is primarily a producer, and Crawford a lead designer rather than book designer. This is what no one in the industry has more experience of. What do we need to put out, how fast, how much market research, what are the pitfalls, what unexpected problems are there?

 

[darjr]

To me the biggest potential problem with Daggerheart is turning the success of the core rulebook into a line. The Daggerheart rulebook can't be kept on shelves right now - but where will it be in a year's time and how will they keep up the enthusiasm? If the Daggerheart core rulebook is it then in three years time then no matter how good it is (and it is good) it will mostly be a "remember that thing?" other than to a few enthusiasts.

And that's what Crawford and Perkins have the most experience with. Perkins is primarily a producer, and Crawford a lead designer rather than book designer. This is what no one in the industry has more experience of. What do we need to put out, how fast, how much market research, what are the pitfalls, what unexpected problems are there?

They are both great DMs and Chris at least is a great adventure writer.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Is Darrington Press the new Paizo?

No.

There's nothing about what Darrington Press is doing that matches what Paizo did or does. They are two separate companies making vastly different choices.

 

[haakon1]

How do you know?

I need a shrug emoji for the original claim and this rebuttal.

Could be true? Not sure it is?

 

[haakon1]

I don't think anyone wants to relive the days of requiring Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting, and Improved Two-Weapon Fighting feats in order to achieve lower mediocrity when fighting with two weapons.

Prepare to be mildly surprised…

3x still has fans. I DM two campaigns in it. My 14 yo niece DM’s a third.

I like it because I view 3.5e as the final version of AD&D. The last without unlimited cantrips, etc. Relatively easy to pull from the full gamut of first & third party D&D, AD&D, PF1, and 5e to a system in the middle, giving me endless possibilities.

Do we love it for the two-weapon fighting build? No. I must have DM’d 80+ 3x PC’s and I remember only one character had Two-Weapon Fighting.

But more importantly, rules and builds aren’t the point - story and roleplaying and adventure/risk are.

On that, I suspect Daggerheart agrees with me. Maybe not the risk part.

 

[Worrgrendel]

They fall victim to what every other TTRPG live show does. You cannot condense an entire campaign into 2 hours. What you get instead is a bunch of players trying to one up each other with puns while the DM tries to herd cats and progress the plot and try to throw in as many references as possible to the fan base that paid money to see them live. I personally am not as big a fan of most live shows (Dimension 20 or otherwise) and prefer the longer campaigns over them but I do still enjoy them for what they are.

 

[Stormonu]

D&D is loosing players but it is gaining new ones faster. The new starter set with cards will bring in troves.

I think you're overestimating a gimmick. 4E had cards, and at least two 5E starter sets have had cards in them as well. I didn't buy Daggerheart for the cards, and so far I myself haven't been impressed with their inclusion. I admit I might be in the minority (I have a hate-on for MtG), but I don't think the cards in the new starter will have much impact to the overall game.

 

[bhchrist]

They also released another D&D book, put three on DnD Beyond, extended their D&D cartoon contract with Prime Video …

They're a growth stage business adding new product lines, not closing them

It is not a D&D cartoon. They have gone out of their way to not use any D&D protected property. They have renamed and/or changed monsters, spells, items, and locations from the campaign to the animation show for this reason.