Critical Role has announced two new RPG systems, including a system for fantasy genre campaigns, that will be released via their Darrington Press imprint. During their first ever “State of the Press” video, Darrington Press announced Illuminated Worlds and Daggerheart, a pair of new TTRPG systems. Illuminated Worlds uses a d6 pool system and was described as being made for “shorter, arc-driven campaigns” that is flexible enough to be used with any type of setting. The game was designed by Stras Ascimovic and Layla Alderman. The other new system is Daggerheart, a new “fantasy genre” RPG designed for longer campaign play that also features a character progression system. No release dates were announced for either game, but both systems will have demos at Gen Con this year.
While it’s not surprising that Darrington Press is developing new TTRPGs (a third tabletop role playing game called Syndicult was announced back in 2021 and is still in development), the news that Critical Role is making a fantasy campaign system is notable for several reasons. Critical Role has a massive built-in audience of TTRPG fans, so a good fantasy genre TTRPG offering could make a major splash in the Dungeons & Dragons-dominated TTRPG market. Additionally, many have wondered whether Critical Role would potentially switch to an in-house TTRPG system for a future campaign, thus breaking away from Dungeons & Dragons altogether. The announcement that a potential D&D alternative is in the works will further fuel that speculation, although it could be months or even years to determine whether it will be a 5E alternative.
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Darrington Press also announced Queen by Midnight, a new game originally designed by Critical Role producer Kyle Shire. Queen by Midnight is a a battle royale deck-building game in which players control one of six powerful princesses battling it out to be crowned as the next Midnight Queen. The game features a 3D clock tower that serves as both a timer and a dice tower. Queen by Midnight will be released at Gen Con this year.
Furthermore, Darrington Press announced that Critical Role Adventures, a campaign-style board game featuring Vox Machina, has been put on hold indefinitely.
