At Gen Con, Critical Role had a lot to announce. In their Daggerheart panel, they mentioned partnerships with other live plays and a new campaign frame or setting that is currently in development. Arguably, the biggest announcement, though, was at their live show that Saturday. Before the show, Critical Role announced that their fourth campaign will premiere in October and will be GMed by Brennan Lee Mulligan. This might not seem like big news, but it is. Critical Role has always had Matthew Mercer as their DM, so this is going to feel different. I wanted to share my thoughts on the news, along with the other announcement from the Daggerheart panel.

I am excited for Brennan to become a more permanent fixture within Critical Role. I have listened to Brennan’s podcast, Worlds Beyond Number, and it’s amazing. It’s such a good podcast that I can no longer listen to it while working because I find myself getting emotional at times with the story. Brennan is, of course, a GM for Dimension 20 on Dropout, so clearly, Brennan can tell long-form stories. I have no doubt that Brennan will do a great job with this campaign. Some fans felt this change was jarring. I think that’s valid, although I think different can be a good thing. Critical Role has been doing this for ten years, so it’s not unheard of for them to change their current pattern.

Another thing that is interesting is the negative reactions to the announcement. The same people who don’t like this are also the same people who hated Critical Role’s third campaign, Bells Hells. I find it funny that the people who weren’t excited were also the same people who thought Matt was burning out and said he looked tired. As a side note, can we not tell people that they look tired? That’s really insulting, and it doesn’t matter if it’s directed at Matt or me or anyone else. You can’t have it both ways; you can’t be negative online and then be surprised when Matt decides to take a step back for this campaign.

The real question, though, is campaign #4: using Dungeons & Dragons or Daggerheart? I have no preference as to which system Critical Role uses. It would be smart for them to use Daggerheart since it just launched. I have no doubt that Brennan could learn and pick up Daggerheart quickly. With that said, Critical Role made it big playing Dungeons & Dragons, so would it be alienating their fan base or those who aren’t a big fan of Daggerheart in general? It will be interesting to see how things unfold as October gets closer.

The last thing I wanted to touch on was the new campaign frame. In the Daggerheart panel, it was announced that a new campaign frame was in development. This campaign frame is going to be a Romantasy-themed setting. Do I have to become a GM now? I guess so. I love this idea! I could imagine playing in a TTRPG setting based in Obitraes from Serpent & The Wings of Night or Prythian from A Court of Thorns and Roses. I hope that a setting like this would bring in new players who may not have played a TTRPG before. I like how diverse some of these campaign frames are, and I’d like to see new source books developed by Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford in some of these settings.

I am looking forward to October. I should be finished with The Mighty Nein by then, and I will watch both Bells Hells and campaign #4 simultaneously. I think Brennan will knock it out of the park, and I’m curious as to what he will come up with.