An Original Horror TTRPG Game & Series from Critical Role Announced

On May 9th, 2023, Critical Role, a leader in innovative storytelling, released the official trailer for Candela Obscura, an original horror TTRPG series running on Darrington Press’s Illuminated Worlds System, set to premiere May 25. 

Candela Obscura is an ongoing monthly horror drama that follows an esoteric order of investigators as they use centuries of knowledge to fight back a mysterious source of corruption and bleed. At the beginning of each episode, an inciting incident occurs, prompting a team, or circle, of investigators to uncover and solve the mystery at hand and the series was designed so that viewers and listeners can pick up at any point. 

Leveraging gaming as a story mechanic, the series features the Candela Obscura tabletop roleplaying game from Darrington Press, which is designed with the Illuminated Worlds System.

Building off of the recent success with Critical Role’s newly acquired series set on the isle of Midst, Candela Obscura is the newest addition to Critical Role and provides yet another unique world to explore. 

Candela Obscura’s quickstart guide will be available for fans worldwide the morning of May 25th, ahead of the show’s premiere that evening, and the Candela Obscura core rulebook will be officially released by Darrington Press at the end of 2023. 

Candela Obscura was originally created by Taliesin Jaffe and Chris Lockey, with Spenser Starke and Rowan Hall serving as lead designers and writers, and Steve Failows and Maxwell James as producers. 

The cast for Candela Obscura includes Critical Role founders Laura Bailey (The Last of Us: Part II, Marvel’s Midnight Suns) and Ashley Johnson (The Last of Us: Part I & II, Blindspot), alongside Robbie Daymond (Spider-Man, The Seven Deadly Sins) and Anjali Bhimani (Ms. Marvel, Overwatch). Critical Role’s Matthew Mercer (The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Overwatch) joins as the first chapter’s game master.

The first chapter of Candela Obscura premieres May 25th at 7pm Pacific on Critical Role’s Twitch (twitch.tv/criticalrole) and YouTube (youtube.com/criticalrole) channels, with new episodes airing the last Thursday of the month. The VOD and podcast will be available two weeks after premiere. The first story arc contains three standalone episodes. 

About Critical Role

Critical Role is one of the fastest growing independent media companies in the world, starting as a roleplaying game between friends and evolving into a new kind of organization dedicated to storytelling, community and imagination. As Critical Role continues to expand the unique universe it has created, with complex stories set in an ever-evolving world, it also continues to create more ways for fans to experience the brand, including both fiction and nonfiction books on the New York Times Best Sellers list, comic books, graphic novels, collectibles, tabletop and roleplaying games, podcasts, live events, and a critically-acclaimed animated series, The Legend of Vox Machina, airing exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. Additionally, Critical Role has launched two major initiatives: an official 501(c)(3) non-profit, the Critical Role Foundation (CRF), and a tabletop game publishing company, Darrington Press. With an original cast of award-winning veteran voice actors who are also co-founders of the company, including Matthew Mercer, Ashley Johnson, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffe, Travis Willingham, Sam Riegel, Laura Bailey and Liam O’Brien, Critical Role is committed to ensuring anyone can discover its stories, characters and community. For more information on Critical Role go to www.critrole.com.

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