Critical Role’s Next Candela Obscura Chapter Brings In Aabria Iyengar as GM

Aabria Iyengar returns to Critical Role as the next Game Master of Candela Obscura. Today, Critical Role announced new details about the upcoming third chapter of Candela Obscura, which starts next month. Iyengar will GM a new three-episode arc with Critical Role’s Sam Riegel and Liam O’Brien joining Gina Darling, Ashly Burch, and Noshir Dala for the new season. The new arc will feature a new Circle of investigators, called the Circle of Tide & Bone. Like other chapters of the show, this three episode arc will be a standalone story, albeit set in the Candela Obscura setting of the Fairelands. A new trailer for the show can be seen below. 

This chapter of Candela Obscura will be the first to be released after the launch of the Candela Obscura rulebook, which comes out later this month. While the previous two chapters of Candela Obscura have served as a preview of the Illuminated Worlds system and the Fairelands campaign settings, this marks the first time that players have had access to the full ruleset and details about the game. 

We’ll also note that Iyengar’s run on Candela Obscura will nicely dovetail with her current appearance on Dimension 20, where she’s running a season heavily inspired by Watership Down and other animal-themed fantasy shows. The last season of Candela Obscura starred Brennan Lee Mulligan, the regular DM for Dimension 20.

What Is Candela Obscura?

Candela Obscura is Critical Role’s new ongoing series set outside of Exandria and starring a rotating cast. The horror series is set in the Fairelands, a world whose development parallels that of the 1920s and is recovering from a recent war. However, the series also features cosmic elements, specifically in the form of the Bleed, a strange corruption that seems to hail from another world. Magic, esotericism, and occultism all play roles in the new series. 

Unlike the main Critical Role series, which uses the Dungeons & Dragons 5E system, Candela Obscura uses the new Illuminated Worlds system, which draws heavily from Blades in the Dark, but with several tweaks to give the Lore Master more control over checks.