Critical Role to Use D&D 2024 Rules For Campaign Four, Expands to Three Tables and Thirteen Players

Critical Role will continue to use Dungeons & Dragons as the play system for its upcoming campaign, with the cast expanding to three distinct tables consisting of a total of 13 players. Today, Critical Role announced new details about its new campaign, which is set to air on October 4th. The new campaign will feature the full founding cast members as players, alongside several new players. In total, the cast includes Laura Bailey, Luis Carazo, Robbie Daymond, Aabria Iyengar, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Matthew Mercer, Whitney Moore, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, Alexander Ward, and Travis Willingham, with the previously announced Brennan Lee Mulligan serving as GM.

The campaign itself will be run as a "West Marches" style of campaign, with three separate groups of players exploring the world. The groups are divided into gameplay styles, with a combat-focused Soldiers group, a lore/exploration-focused Seekers group, and a intrigue-focused Schemers group. All three groups will explore the world of Araman, created by Mulligan for the campaign.

Perhaps most importantly, Critical Role will not be switching to Daggerheart for the fourth campaign. Instead, they'll be opting for the new 2024 ruleset of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. Daggerheart will be represented at Critical Role via the Age of Umbra and "other" Actual Play series, as well as partnerships with other Actual Play troupes.

 

[CleverNickName]

Woops, wrong thread.

 

[Clint_L]

I recently did the do not recommend professor dm on my youtube account….just not a good match for what I enjoy now compared to his a good amount of his older stuff that I did watch.

Agreed - he’s become increasingly negative and often feels like he’s rooting against WotC.

 

[JConstantine]

I wonder how the chemistry will be with new additions and configurations.

I'm sure there will be a moment of adjustment, but I don't think this should be much of a concern.

Luis Carazo: We've seen how he interacts with most of the original group in ExU: Calamity, and in the fireside chat, Matt mentioned that Luis was a player in the home game he ran before the one that led to CR, so there's long-term friendship there. Additionally, in Private Nightmares, he bounces off Alex and Aabria (especially Aabria) well.

Robbie Daymond: We've already seen how he fits with the core group in C3, and he's well-liked (because he's an incredibly affable fella).

Aabria Iyengar: While her GMing for ExU: Kymal was contentious, she's able to rein it in as a player. The fact that she's been invited to GM ExU: Kymal, be a player in ExU: Calamity, and a guest for C3 indicates that she and the main group get along well behind the camera.

Whitney Moore: A few of the main group appeared on Whitney's G&S show, and while that's not an extended format like a campaign, there seemed to be enough chemistry. She has a sort of non-disruptive chaos gremlin energy similar to Emily Axford, which the core group seem to gel with.

Alex Ward: I've not seen Alex interact much with members of the core group, but he GMs Private Nightmares in which Luis and Aabria are players, and there's camaraderie there. If nothing else, Alex is a consummate professional, whose performances are often praised.

 

[The Soloist]

Agreed - he’s become increasingly negative and often feels like he’s rooting against WotC.

He has medical bills to pay because he had cancer, by his own admittance. Any title with D&D is $$$$ and loads of views. His heart is with Shadowdark but he needs to feed the algorithm to pay the bills. The next edition of his own RPG Death Bringer supplement will be with Shadowdark.

It's the same with Bob Worldbuilder. He needs to feed the algorithm but this heart into Dungeon Crawl Classic. Many of his title using D&D veer into DCC promotion.

 

[EthanSental]

I just glanced at his page and last the 12 videos in the past 2 months….im not missing out anything I’d enjoy….kinda like the news….my quality of life went up by not turning or listening to “news” or rather news opinions shows.

 

[JConstantine]

As others have pointed out though, this probably won’t solely be on Bennan’s shoulders. There’s a whole team of folks who will likely be working behind the scenes to help him develop and manage stuff if need be.

Indeed. BLeeM mentioned that Perkins and Crawford would be working on Aramán (the new world), and noted particularly about running homebrew mechanics by Crawford. Presumably both, but especially Perkins, would be helping with worldbuilding.

 

[JConstantine]

Dude 1: "Dude, remember that band we really like."
Dude 2: "Yeah, the one that did that thing, they're awesome!"
Dude 2: "Yeah, I just found out a lot of other people also like them."
Dude 1: "Total bummer, man."
Dude 2: "Yeah, I hate it when a lot of people like something we like."
Dude 1: "Yeah, they like totally sold out and now we can't like them any more."
Dude 2: "Bummer man. Hey, I heard this new group. I hope no one else actually enjoys their music."

There are certainly people like that, but there is also a substantially different vibe between sitting in the nosebleed seats of a sold out 100k capacity stadium compared to being stood in front of the stage at your local basement club, and it's perfectly valid for a person to prefer one feeling to the other.

 

[JConstantine]

Haven't they been dropping viewers in general since the end of Campaign 2?

C2 saw a significant increase in viewers due to Covid lockdowns, so when those were lifted, they naturally dropped as people no longer had the free time to dedicate. C3 saw viewership continuously fall off due a variety of stated reasons: players meandering and being non-committal to any action; Matt stalling the plot like it was a cRPG that allowed you to do all the side quests to level up for the finale; extended period of time spent in the split groups with guests exacerbating the previous points. There seemed to also be a bit of CR fatigue given it's been going 10 years.

 

[darjr]

C2 saw a significant increase in viewers due to Covid lockdowns, so when those were lifted, they naturally dropped as people no longer had the free time to dedicate. C3 saw viewership continuously fall off due a variety of stated reasons: players meandering and being non-committal to any action; Matt stalling the plot like it was a cRPG that allowed you to do all the side quests to level up for the finale; extended period of time spent in the split groups with guests exacerbating the previous points. There seemed to also be a bit of CR fatigue given it's been going 10 years.

I wonder if Westmarches techniques and philosophies will help alleviate any of that.

 

[Charlaquin]

There are certainly people like that, but there is also a substantially different vibe between sitting in the nosebleed seats of a sold out 100k capacity stadium compared to being stood in front of the stage at your local basement club, and it's perfectly valid for a person to prefer one feeling to the other.

There are also just different concerns for a large business than a small business. It may be a bit strange to think of a band or other performance art group as a business, but in the world we live in, they do have to be. Smaller businesses are dealing with smaller amounts of money, which means less riding on the success or failure of their endeavors, which enables them to take risks that a big business couldn’t. It’s an unfortunate result of our economic structures that when a small creator takes a big risk that pays off, it tends to rocket them into a position where they can no longer afford to take the same sort of risks that got them that initial success. I think this is often what people are lamenting when they talk about a beloved creator “selling out.” You may be glad that more people are appreciating their art, while at the same time being disappointed that it likely means their art will have to become safer and more palatable to a broader audience in order to retain that reach.