Critical Role DROPS D&D in their New Show: Candela Obscura

Introduction

The transcript introduces a new game called Candela Obscura by Critical Role, which is not Dungeons & Dragons. The section also highlights the massive audience of Critical Role and how this new game could impact the industry.

New Game by Critical Role

• Cadela Obscura is a new game by Critical Role that uses a brand new system.

• This is the first time in their 8-year history that they are launching an ongoing series using a tabletop roleplaying game that isn't Dungeons & Dragons.

• Critical Role has over 1 million followers on Twitch and about 2 million subscribers on YouTube, making it one of the biggest channels related to D&D or general tabletop roleplaying games.

Impact on Industry

• Candela Obscura could blow past other TTRPG games simply because of its monumental level of exposure.

• The games produced by Critical Role will be fun, and they might be D&D's worst nightmare. They could accelerate the industry-level shift that Wizards of the Coast accidentally initiated back in January when they tried to undermine every other publisher in the TTRPG industry.

Why People Watch Critical Role

This section explores why people watch Critical Role and what attracts and maintains their audience of millions.

Majority Watches for Cast Performance

• A majority of each episode consists of ROLEplay, not gameplay.

• Viewers love the cast of funny, kind, and charismatic people putting on a fantastic performance week after week.

Exposure for New Game

• At least tens of thousands of Critical Role fans are going to buy this game, which could immediately blow past other TTRPG games.

• This game could be totally boring, and it'll still sell out because they have better marketing.

New Game Systems

This section discusses the two new tabletop roleplaying game systems produced by Critical Role: Illuminated Worlds and Daggerheart.

Two New Game Systems

• Critical Role has at least two tabletop roleplaying game systems coming: Illuminated Worlds and Daggerheart.

• These were both officially announced in April.

No Information on Games Yet

• There is no information yet on what these games will be like or how they will differ from Dungeons & Dragons.

Illuminated Worlds and Candela Obscura RPG Systems

In this section, the host announces that Darrington Press has two new RPG systems. Illuminated Worlds is revealed to be a game engine rather than one single game. Candela Obscura is the first game built on the Illuminated Worlds system.

Introduction to Illuminated Worlds

• The series features the Candela Obscura tabletop roleplaying game from Darrington Press, which is built on the Illuminated Worlds system.

• Mercer describes Illuminated Worlds as a d6 dice pool system designed for much shorter, arc-driven campaigns and packaged in a way so that it can be used with pretty much any type of setting you can think of.

• Stras Acimovic and Layla Adelman created the system.

Introduction to Candela Obscura

• Candela Obscura was designed by Spenser Starke, creator of Alice is Missing and part of the design team behind Kids on Brooms.

• It's designed for standalone episodes but will have standalone episodes (so you don’t need to watch a backlog of 100 hours to get caught up with the story).

• A free quickstart guide will be released ahead of its premiere along with a "How to Play" video by Spenser Starke.

Daggerheart RPG System

• Daggerheart is another upcoming RPG system from Critical Role that's been designed for long-term campaign play and character progression.

Critical Role's New RPGs and the Future of Tabletop Gaming

In this section, the speaker discusses how Critical Role could use their platform to promote their own tabletop RPG, Daggerheart, on their main show.

Critical Role's Potential Shift Away from D&D

• Critical Role may be ready to shed Dungeons & Dragons and use their platform to promote their own tabletop RPG on their main show.

• The game Daggerheart is D&D's nightmare and has the potential to out-sell every other big RPG publisher besides Wizards of the Coast in the year that it's released.

• While D&D will always be a part of what Critical Role produces, it would be silly if they didn't at least try to use Daggerheart as a replacement for D&D in their next long campaign.

Accelerating Industry-Level Shift

• Critical Role's new RPGs are going to accelerate the industry-level shift that Wizards of the Coast accidentally started with the OGL controversy.

• Many people who were having fun with 5e made it a personal priority to test the waters of other games after feeling pushed away from D&D. Now, many people are being pulled toward Critical Role’s games because they love Critical Role!

• The community will continue this shift from being tightly clustered around one monolithic brand, to a more genuine tabletop RPG community.