Critical Role's New Tabletop RPG Candela Obscura Releases Quickstart Rules

The Quickstart rules packet for Candela Obscura, a new tabletop RPG by Critical Role's Darrington Press, is now available. Darrington Press released the rules packet for Candela Obscura, which comes with a 24-page rulebook/setting guide/mini-adventure and pre-generated character sheets, earlier today ahead of the premiere of the Candela Obscura monthly show tonight. A rules explainer video narrated by Spencer Starke, an award-winning designer who helped develop the game, was also released and can be found below: 

Candela Obscura uses the Darrington Press-owned Illuminated Worlds rules system, which is built on a d6 pool system. When a player is asked to make a check of some kind, they build a pool of d6s to roll and take the highest result. A 6 is a success, a 4-5 is a "partial success" or a success with a cost, and a 1-3 is a failure. Players can add dice to their check by spending Drive (a resource that each character keeps track of on their character sheet), building to a maximum of 6 dice in a pool. Players generate more Drive by using a "gilded action" – an action marked by a diamond on the character sheet – and choosing to use the result of a "gilded dice"that they replace a normal dice from that action's dice pool with. This may mean that a player takes a failure on an action to replenish their drive, even if one of their regular dice shows a success. Each action has a number of points associated with them, which represents the base number of dice a player rolls when they make a check. 

Instead of hit points, players take "marks" when they suffer damage. There are three categories of marks, and a player can take up to three marks in a category before they take a "Scar." A scar causes a player to move a point from one action to another, with the type of physical scar and its associated effects left up to a player. While scars are meant to be long-lasting or permanent, they are associated with specific changes. For instance, a player can choose to Scar their character with a permanent limp, but increase their Move action points because their character desires to not wish to suffer an injury like that again. 

Players don't level up based on their individual accomplishments, but rather based on the progress of their Circle, which represents that specific group of players. Over time, a player gains more points for actions and a larger drive pool, while the Circle collectively unlocks more abilities that can be used by any or all players. 

On its face, Candela Obscura seems to be a horror-themed cousin of Blades in the Dark, a heist-themed game set in a fantasy setting. The core d6 pool mechanic is similar, as is the emphasis on the collective group for advancement over individuals. The two games obviously aren't the same, but veteran RPG players who have played Blades in the Dark shouldn't have much issue jumping into Candela Obscura. 

You can check out Candela Obscura's Quickstart rules by downloading them from Darrington Press's website. The first episode of Candela Obscura debuts tonight on Critical Role's Twitch and YouTube channels. 

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