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.

 

[kermit4karate]

I think that it is mostly DM types (i.e. 90%+ of the people on this forum, I suspect) that are driven to try out different TTRPGs and mechanics. It's a lot of expense, in terms of time, money, and effort, and as you say, your average player doesn't see the value in the proposition.

I can get my players to play a different game when it offers a distinctly different experience with minimal effort required from them. So running a game of Dread is a good sell. They were down for a short Call of Cthulhu campaign, and for Alien. An evening of Fiasco here and there.

But swapping from D&D to Pathfinder or Daggerheart? That would involve a lot more expense for a similar experience (especially for PF). Most folks don't see the value in it.

Bingo! Totally agree. Most people, regular people/casual gamers, care about games because they want to have fun. That's the only goal they have. If they're already having fun playing D&D, they're almost completely uninterested in someone else telling them, "Hey, if you take a few hours to learn this other game system over here that you can get for the low, low price of $29.99 and then find three people who are interested in it too and they pay $29.99 apiece, then I promise you'll have even MOAR fun!"

Yeah...not gonna happen. They just don't care!

 

[Clint_L]

I just watched the Fireside Chat with Mercer and Mulligan, and they talk a fair bit about having the main architects of D&D on their team, so that when they need a new creature or item or whatever, Perkins and Crawford just make it for them and it almost feels canon.

 

[Seramus]

when they need a new creature or item or whatever, Perkins and Crawford just make it for them and it almost feels canon.

That's such a dirty, clever take. I love it.
Like just asking Keith Baker to write some stuff in the Eberron style, or Ed Greenwood to write something in the FR style.

 

[kermit4karate]

Like anything, though, making a living selling a game intended to compete with, or be an alternative to, a behemoth like D&D has to be solvable. There must be ways to do it because we do see examples from time to time. It's a challenge, but most challenges are solvable.

Speaking as yet one more opinionated veteran gamer among millions...to me the biggest barrier to entry for most people when it comes to getting interested in a new fantasy TTRPG is the initial learning curve and the value proposition vis-à-vis D&D.

Why should I spend a few hours to learn it when I'm already familiar with D&D?
Why should I spend any money on it when I already have the books for D&D?
What's in it for me, versus what's in it for me if I just continue to play D&D?
How am I going to get a few other people in my circle of friends interested in it?

I bet the fantasy RPG game developers who answer those questions and address those concerns sell more copies of their games.

 

[Reynard]

I am inclined to agree, which is why, if WoTC D&D was to cease, it would be replaced by the closest clone game.

Do you think ToV would suddenly get as big as D&D? I don't.

 

[JConstantine]

From what I can tell, D&D's dominance has elevated the profile of the hobby as a whole, and legitimized (maybe even created) a whole niche in the gaming industry.

This is the case according to actual RPG developers. In addition to Steve Jackson's comment that @Staffan pointed out, a few years ago, one the of the Paizo devs commented on a reddit post about how 5e's massive success was a case of rising tides lift all ships. They stated that even though they're getting a narrower slice of the pie (smaller market share as a percentage - they estimated ~1%) compared to 4e era, the pie itself (TTRPG market) was so large that they were actually getting more pie (revenue) overall. So the idea that D&D's popularity harms other RPGs is nonsense.

 

[Reynard]

This is the case according to actual RPG developers. In addition to Steve Jackson's comment that @Staffan pointed out, a few years ago, one the of the Paizo devs commented on a reddit post about how 5e's massive success was a case of rising tides lift all ships. They stated that even though they're getting a narrower slice of the pie (smaller market share as a percentage - they estimated ~1%) compared to 4e era, the pie itself (TTRPG market) was so large that they were actually getting more pie (revenue) overall. So the idea that D&D's popularity harms other RPGs is nonsense.

Wait, so one of the major 2nd tier publishers in the industry benefitted, you think that means it is "nonsense" that D&D massive footprint is harmful to new, smaller games?

Interesting.

 

[kermit4karate]

Do you think ToV would suddenly get as big as D&D? I don't.

I think the point is valid, but maybe ToV isn't that clone. Do we honestly think, though, that if WotC stopped producing new books that however many millions of people there are playing D&D right now would stop because of it? That doesn't make sense to me. If I'm running a D&D campaign, first of all, I already have the books and don't need a new one to keep running the game.

By the time it would start to matter, other game publishers / developers would step in to fill the demand with something almost exactly like D&D.

 

[Scribe]

Do you think ToV would suddenly get as big as D&D? I don't.

Yeah, agreed.

99% of 'D&D players' have never heard of ToV, wouldnt even know where to look.

/changemymind

 

[Valetudo]

I heard some time mid season the Fonz is going to show up and jump a dire shark.