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

An 8-part Daggerheart miniseries is coming from Critical Role. Announced today, Age of Umbra is a new Actual Play series featuring Matthew Mercer as game master and co-founders Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe, and Travis Willingham as players. The new miniseries will take up the bulk of the summer months, providing more of a break to the core cast ahead of an assumed fourth full-length D&D campaign.

Daggerheart is a new TTRPG developed by Critical Role's Darrington Press. Although the base game is intended to be a high fantasy RPG, the game includes several "campaign frames" that add additional rules for specific types of stories. Age of Umbra was developed by Mercer and draws inspiration from games like Dark Souls, Tainted Grail, and Kingdom Death: Monster.

The miniseries will air on Beacon, Twitch, and YouTube, with episodes airing every Thursday. The first episode debuts on May 29th, with Session 0 airing on various Critical Role platforms on May 22nd.

The full description of the series can be found below:

Age of Umbra

is an eight-part Daggerheart mini-series from Critical Role of dark, survival fantasy, debuting May 29 on Beacon, Twitch, and YouTube. Set in the Halcyon Domain, a world abandoned by gods and consumed by darkness, the series begins by following five people from the isolated community of Desperloch as they fight to protect their own in the face of rising horrors.

The Halcyon Domain is a lethal, foreboding land where the souls of the dead are cursed to return as twisted, nightmarish forms. A dark, ethereal mass known as the Umbra roams and holds these fiendish monstrosities, further corrupting anything it touches. Sacred Pyres keep the corruption at bay, and small communities endure through cooperation. Out in the beyond, whispers speak of ancient secrets and powers, wonders of a lost age, ready for discovery to those brave enough (or foolish enough) to seek them.

Game Master Matthew Mercer leads fellow Critical Role co-founders Ashley Johnson, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Taliesin Jaffe, and Travis Willingham in a high-stakes actual play exploring hope, sacrifice, and survival in a world where death is only the beginning.

 

[overgeeked]

And yet, they often go shopping for bag of nails and other mundane equipment.

Their shopping episodes are almost exclusively magic item shopping and fashion glow ups. It's incredibly rare that they bother with mundane stuff. The two exceptions I can think of are Beau buying ball bearings and Caleb buying ink and paper. That's two characters across three campaigns.

I disagree with you.

Sure, you can disagree with me, but it's not a matter of agreement or disagreement. It's a matter of fact. Does the cast of CR play in a style that centers or obviates mundane gear? I've watched parts of C1 and all of C2 and C3. When I say they almost never remember their mundane equipment, I mean it. They just don't play that way. Fussing over a bit of rope or a 10' pole just aren't their style.

No-one? You don’t play with the same people I do. They remember.

Right. Your friends remember. My friends remember when we play that style. But the cast of CR effectively never remembers.

 

[The Soloist]

Sam, effectively used his rope to great effect in a prior episode of Umbra. He remembered then. I guess it was the stress of the situation. He just failed a strenght roll.

 

[overgeeked]

Sam, effectively used his rope to great effect in a prior episode of Umbra. He remembered then. I guess it was the stress of the situation. He just failed a strenght roll.

Right. So that's what...three examples...across how many thousands of hours of play? These are the exceedingly rare exceptions that prove the rule.

 

[SteveC]

Fascinating how a 10 years plus RPG veteran looks at his skills and power cards but forget he has a rope to help his friends climb a fortress wall. The GM has to remind him.

I’m sorry, are we really being critical of someone,who is part of the most successful actual play show for gaming ever, for a simple mistake? As part of a highly successful new show promoting a brand new rpg? I only know a couple of people who think could handle being on CR. I would just suggest a little more charity knowing my own play style and my own limits.

That’s certainly not to say CR or anyone on it is immune to criticism, rather this seems a strange area to choose to criticize.

 

[The Soloist]

I’m sorry, I forgot CR had a special aura power that prevented them from being critized in any shape or form, on EnWorld. I won’t do it again, promise.

 

[Elvish Lore]

I’m sorry, I forgot CR had a special aura power that prevented them from being critized in any shape or form, on EnWorld. I won’t do it again, promise.

Ugh

 

[SteveC]

I’m sorry, I forgot CR had a special aura power that prevented them from being critized in any shape or form, on EnWorld. I won’t do it again, promise.

Sometimes I’m able to predict replies to what I post. Read the second paragraph in what I just posted as it was meant to specifically address this concern.

Of course you can criticize CR! I am not a Critter, although to have watched a fair bit of CR. None of the cast are the best gamers out there. They are really solid improv performers. If you’re watching CR for the best or most optimal way to play, you’ll be disappointed. Now I think that if you’re watching to be entertained, you probably will be.

Daggerheart is brand new. What you can expect your characters to do or have with them is going to be a work in progress. I just suggest that a little charity might be in order. Saying “well my players would never do this” is great but will millions of people subscribe to actual plays you create? Probably not. But hey, I’m always willing to check out something new, so go for it!

 

[The Soloist]

Ah! The famous 'I dare you to do better challenge'. Irrelevant to this discussion.

 

[SkidAce]

Ah! The famous 'I dare you to do better challenge'. Irrelevant to this discussion.

I started off understanding your point, but I'm not sure where you are going anymore...

 

[SteveC]

Ah! The famous 'I dare you to do better challenge'. Irrelevant to this discussion.

It seems to me that you're using the ‘skim lightly and largely ignore what's inconvenient’ challenge. I'm not sure what you're even arguing. Its totally cool not to like CR or Daggerheart. Feeling that way because some of the players are new or not handling things the best, okay. Then those of us who are exploring the game and using this series to help might just disagree. If that's all you're saying, okay, have a good one.