Daggerheart has announced that even more ex-D&D designers will be expanding the up-and-coming RPG. Recently departed Wizards of the Coast design heads Jeremy Crawford confirmed at Gen Con that they were working on new campaign frames and settings. At the same time, it was confirmed that Eberron creator Keith Baker will develop an original Daggerheart setting with fellow designer and wife Jen Ellis.
Keith Baker’s Eberron became an official DnD setting in 2004. Since then, Baker has designed numerous sourcebooks and novels expanding the world, and he’s been involved in the design of pretty much every first-party Eberron DnD book. Dungeons and Dragons isn’t Baker’s only accolade, though, as he’s previously worked on RPGs like Pathfinder and 13th Age. Baker also co-founded Twogether Studios with Jen Ellis in 2014.
We don’t have any more details about Ellis’ and Baker’s new Daggerheart setting at this time. It’s a similar situation with the campaign setting that Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins are apparently developing. Since departing Wizards of the Coast, they’ve been extremely tight-lipped about their work on Daggerheart.
All we know from July 31’s press release is that “Crawford is leading the design of a full setting that dives into a hellishly terrifying genre, while Perkins is building a series of adventures that will span multiple campaign frames and interconnect into a larger narrative arc.” Crawford also specified in an interview with Todd Kenreck (see video below) that his campaign setting will be more expansive than the campaign frames we saw in Daggerheart’s core rulebook.
Despite the lack of details, we can make some educated guesses about the content coming in Crawford’s campaign setting. This is because Daggerheart has been playtesting a heap of spooky content recently. The new Witch class uses cards from a Dread domain, and the most recent playtest features transformation cards that let you turn into vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, and more.
In Kenreck’s interview, lead designers Rowan Hall and Spenser Starke confirm that these spooky character options were developed alongside but ultimately held back from the core rulebook. The intent, it seems, was always to create a spooky Daggerheart follow-up. Regardless, we can see these rules influencing – or at least enhancing – Crawford’s future creations.
Daggerheart has wasted no time at Gen Con, announcing even more upcoming content. A Kickstarter for Daggerheart class packs will launch in September, and a new romantasy-inspired campaign frame is coming in 2026. ‘With Love and Magic’ takes direct inspiration from the in-world Critical Role romance novel, Tusk Love.
A homebrew kit is now also available to download for free from Daggerheart’s website. The tabletop RPG will be coming to further actual play shows, with Legends of Avantris, Dungeons and Daddies, and Bonus Action all announcing series. Critical Role’s own Daggerheart show, Age of Umbra, has also confirmed its second season. Beyond actual play, an Art of Daggerheart book, new dice, and Hero Forge options for the RPG are all on the way.
For more on Daggerheart, here’s why I’m teaching my partner to play this system rather than D&D. Speaking of D&D, here’s all you need to know about DnD classes and DnD races. And, as always, you can share your TTRPG stories with us in the Wargamer Discord.