Critical Role has confirmed more details about the cast, system, and setting for its fourth campaign. The tabletop media giant has opted to continue playing Dungeons and Dragons in its most mainstream series, and it’ll star a whopping 13 players alongside Dungeon Master Brennan Lee Mulligan.
Critical Role’s partner company, Darrington Press, released its own major heroic fantasy game this year in the form of Daggerheart. Ever since, Critters have been speculating about which system will get to host Critical Role’s campaign, which debuts on October 2.
Explaining Critical Role’s decision to opt for Dungeons and Dragons, creative director Marisha Ray says “When creating the worlds that we build and explore in all of our content at Critical Role, we have always held strong to the belief that we should use the system that best supports the story we want to tell”. “We are certainly spoiled for choice when it comes to TTRPG systems that the cast knows and loves, so we are very excited to explore more of both Daggerheart and Dungeons and Dragons in our near (and hopefully distant) future.”
Campaign four won’t be entirely divorced from Daggerheart, however. The announcement made on August 21 confirms that Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins, former senior designers at D&D who now hold crucial roles at Darrington Press, will be contributing homebrew designs to Critical Role’s fourth campaign.
The major names don’t stop here, either. Critical Role’s founders (Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Matt Mercer, Liam O’Brien, Marisha Ray, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham) will all play a critical role as players. They’ll also be joined by tabletop RPG veterans Luis Carazo, Robbie Daymond, Aabria Iyengar, Whitney Moore, and Alex Ward.
If you’ve ever played a game of D&D, you might be wondering how a system designed for four to six characters will endure 13 star players. New Critical Role Dungeon Master, Brennan Lee Mulligan, has actually opted to run a West Marches campaign.
This campaign structure has long been a part of TTRPG history, and it accommodates large numbers of players who are split into smaller groups. These groups play at separate tables, but their actions can affect the campaign’s shared world and the other characters, even when they don’t meet.
Lee Mulligan has split the cast into three groups: the Swords, the Seekers, and the Schemers. Each will apparently embody a different playstyle, from traditional combat-focused adventures to more lore or social intrigue focused encounters.
The first four episodes of Critical Role campaign four are something of an ‘overture’ that introduces the interlinked stories of these 13 characters. After that, the stories will split apart, and we’ll see each of the three tables play out their own tales.
These stories take place in Aramán, a world where mortals rebelled against their gods and overthrew them. 70 years after destroying their own creators, the natural and supernatural worlds have altered to this new normal, and mortals still have many conflicts to face.
Campaign four premieres on Beacon.tv and Critical Role’s YouTube and Twitch channels on October 2. On-demand videos will be available the following Monday, with podcast recordings released in parts in the two weeks following the premiere.
Want to share your hype about the new campaign? Hit us up in the Wargamer Discord. Or, if you’d like to play some 5e yourself, here’s all you need to know about DnD classes and DnD races.