Critical Role has been huge in the D&D world. Though the first campaign began using Pathfinder, when it became a streaming show in 2015, the group formerly known as "The Shits" became a somewhat more public-facing-friendly "Vox Machina," and converted to the then-new 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons. While I credit my introduction to D&D to the folks at Penny Arcade with their Acquisitions Incorporated games, there's no doubt that Critical Role has been a big part of how D&D has become more popular than ever before.
Now, credit where credit is due: 5th Edition was also a much more welcoming design than previous editions of the game. Pathfinder was built on the bones of 3rd Edition, and while I haven't played either, my familiarity with Starfinder (itself derived from Pathfinder) suggests that the whole thing is a lot more finicky and granular. While experienced 5E veterans might enjoy the greater degree of challenge and freedom in putting together a character build, 5th Edition does still allow for a lot of customization, but I think the balance it strikes makes it way easier for the majority of players to get into.
Still, Critical Role has been a big part of that D&D brand, but with the launch of their own game publishing subsidiary, Darrington Press, and the debacle of D&D's OGL revisions (a storm that it seems D&D has weathered largely by just doing what the players and community asked them to do - though I'll let those who are more legally versed render the final judgment; I don't blame anyone for being skeptical of the decisions and strategies of giant corporations like Hasbro,) and with folks like Kobold Press and MCDM working on their own RPG systems, it seemed inevitable that CR, through Darrington Press, would do the same.
And, as it turned out, they've got two coming out.
The first of these, Illuminated Worlds, is the basis on which their new ongoing (mini-?) series Candela Obscura is built. Candela Obscura is presented as its own game "using the Illuminated Worlds engine." Candela Obscura is a kind of turn-of-the-century paranormal investigation game, which seems like it would fit well in cosmic horror, a bit of gothic horror, and other supernatural horror subgenres with that cool late-industrial vibe.
I'm given to understand, though, that Illuminated Worlds is intended to be used for all sorts of genres, with the same basic die mechanic.
And that mechanic is actually familiar to me: Having read (some of) the Blades in the Dark core rulebook, the basic gist is the same: Each character has scores in actions, that each find themselves in broader categories. For example, you might have two filled-in dots of "Control," which determines your ability to maintain control of objects, like driving a car, aiming a gun, or just holding your hand steady as you pull off some deft move.
When you perform this action, you roll a number of d6s equal to the number of dots you have, and take the highest result. 6s are full successes, where you basically do what you intended to do. 4-5 means you succeed, but with some complication. And 1-3 are misses. So, if our character has two dots in this action and needs to drive a car to escape some horrible, speedy spirits down a narrow alley, they'll be more than likely to succeed - about a 75% chance - but chances are it's going to have some complication, as there's only a 31% chance to have a full success.
Now, some of the nuances are different from Blades in the Dark, but they do seem to have a lot of similarities. One thing I find interesting is that you don't choose your inventory before you go on a mission - instead, you can pull out useful items at an opportune time, but you only get to do this so many times over the course of a mission.
The system is designed for short, often session-long gameplay loops, and unlike D&D, systems like these don't really see your character getting significantly more powerful over time. Indeed, a character can accrue "scars" that will eventually force them to retire (or die).
Now, all this being said, this is only one of two systems that Darrington Press is working on.
Daggerheart is one we have not really heard much about, but it is this that looks like it will be playing a similar role to D&D, with a character progression system intended for lengthy campaigns. That's basically all we know about it.
However, it would seem very likely that the next campaign of Critical Role, after its current 3rd campaign, will presumably use this system (it would be strange for the company not to use its show to demonstrate and promote its own gameplay system).
I presume that it will fill a similar heroic fantasy vibe to D&D. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if it winds up having very similar bones to 5th Edition D&D, much as Kobold Press' Tales of the Valiant, which explicitly identifies itself as a 5E system.
What I'd be curious to see is if there's any attempt to explore other aspects of the genre. I realize this is kind of my pet thing, but I'd personally love to have a system for, or at least a system that could be used for, some kind of modern New Weird adventures but with the full epic progression system of D&D.
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