Critical Role is branching out from D&D by publishing two new RPG systems
The Darrington Press imprint of Critical Role has two new role-playing games And a new board game in the pipeline, all of which will soon have playable public demos. The announcement marks a departure for the actual playgroup, which has largely devoted its time to performing and publishing works based on Dungeons & Dragons. The announcement was made in a video briefing published on Thursday YouTube.
Perhaps the most interesting of the three new products is hot Illuminated worlds, created by Stras Ascimovic and Layla Alderman. Ascimovic is an experienced game developer and part of the team of Off Guard Gameswhose titles include the well-known Band of knives And Scum and rogues. Both use the Forged in the dark ruleset, a licensed version of the popular Blades in the dark game by John Harper.
According to a press release, Illuminated worlds uses “a d6 dice pool and is designed for much shorter arc-driven campaigns and flexible enough to be used with any type of setting.”
Queen at midnight is a new deck building game from Kyle Shire, a producer of Critical Role, described as a battle royale game. From today’s press release:
You play as powerful princesses who battle it out in a magical free game for everyone! When the clock strikes midnight, the most powerful princess standing will be crowned the next midnight queen. Each princess has its own unique vibe and playstyle, so there’s something for everyone whether you’re familiar with card building games or not.
An early one preorder page the game lists a price of $69.99, and also adds more color to the description:
The Midnight Queen is dead. As her kingdom weeps, the queen’s dying command was to invoke the Rule By Midnight: a 24-hour ordeal of strife and deceit, where the princesses of the Twelve Lands meet in secret to battle and scheme against each other to forge. At the stroke of midnight, the most powerful princess remaining is crowned the new Midnight Queen.
Daggerhearton the other hand, received the slightest bit of explanation other than being a “fun and fresh update to the fantasy genre of RPGs” built “for extended campaign play and character development.”
Darrington Press has had mixed success with its creations so far. We found United Kingdomthe first board game, to be a bit picky when it came out in 2021. Meanwhile, Until the last gasp, a new hybrid of a role-playing game and a board game, has received critical acclaim. Polygon called it “captivating yet light, allowing for complex storytelling or concise poetic duels shrouded in mystery.”
All three new games will be available for demo at this year’s Gen Con in Indianapolis, which begins August 3.