What Critical Role Sticking With D&D Says About Daggerheart
When Critical Role announced that their next campaign would once again be played in Dungeons & Dragons, the reaction was mixed. On the one hand, D&D and Critical Role are nearly inseparable. It’s the system that made them famous, the one that pulled in millions of viewers, and the one that turned “watching other people play D&D” into a phenomenon. On the other hand, the timing raised eyebrows. Daggerheart, the game Critical Role themselves developed under their Darrington Press imprint, has just been released. Why wouldn’t they showcase their own system in the most visible way possible—on their flagship show?
At first glance, it feels like they’re sidestepping their own creation. Dig a little deeper, though, and you can see why sticking with D&D makes sense. At the same time, it also reveals a tension in how Critical Role views its identity: are they a D&D actual play show, or are they a company with ambitions to create the next great RPG?
The Case for D&D
There’s one obvious reason D&D still reigns supreme for Critical Role: accessibility. The majority of their audience already knows how a d20 roll works. They understand hit points, advantage, spell slots, and saving throws. That shared language means that when the players roll dice, the viewers stay engaged without needing to pause for explanations. If Critical Role shifted their main show to Daggerheart, the risk would be alienating their broadest audience. Fans might feel like they have to buy the new book or learn a whole new ruleset just to understand what’s going on at the table.
And make no mistake, Critical Role isn’t just a home game anymore. They’re running a media empire. Accessibility is king. When you’re putting out a show that reaches millions, you want to make the barrier to entry as low as possible. D&D, as the most popular RPG in the world, is the natural choice.
There’s also a continuity factor. Since the very first streamed session, Critical Role has been tied to D&D. To keep the main show feeling like a continuation of that history, sticking with the same system is a safe move. While many fans would happily follow them into Daggerheart, many others would see a switch as too jarring, even disorienting.
And then there’s the elephant in the room: Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins. Both longtime Wizards of the Coast designers, both instrumental in shaping the modern editions of D&D, and both now working with Darrington Press. Their arrival makes it almost inevitable that D&D would continue to have a place of prominence at Critical Role. When you’ve brought in two of the architects of the world’s most famous RPG, you don’t sideline them by switching to a different system.
What It Says About Daggerheart
Of course, this decision casts a long shadow over Daggerheart. For a system designed to be Critical Role’s own, the fact that it won’t be the star of their main campaign is telling. The subtext is hard to miss: Critical Role isn’t ready to put the full weight of their brand behind their own creation.
Instead, expect to see Daggerheart appear in more side projects, one-shots, or perhaps even a shorter-form streamed campaign. That gives them room to continue refining and easing fans into the system without the intense scrutiny that comes with a numbered Critical Role campaign. It’s a practical approach, but it’s also one that risks undermining confidence in the game.
Fans who bought Daggerheart may rightly ask: if the Critical Role team themselves won’t use it for their own main show, why should we? A new RPG lives or dies by adoption, and the biggest advertisement Critical Role could give Daggerheart is to play it themselves on the biggest stage they have. By not doing so, they’ve created mixed signals.
Damned If They Do, Damned If They Don’t
This puts Critical Role in a tricky position. Had they announced Campaign 4 would be in Daggerheart, they’d face backlash from fans who don’t want to learn a whole new game or feel pressured to buy a rulebook. By sticking with D&D, they ensure accessibility and familiarity, but at the cost of sending the message that even they don’t fully trust Daggerheart.
The Long Game
What’s likely is that Critical Role is playing the long game. They’re not abandoning Daggerheart—they’re just not gambling their flagship campaign on it yet. By keeping the main show in D&D, they preserve continuity and maximize audience comfort. By showcasing Daggerheart in other formats, they give the game time to breathe and find its own fanbase.
But the tension will remain. Every time Critical Role plays D&D, the unspoken question lingers: if Daggerheart is good enough for us, why isn’t it good enough for them?
D&D is safe, familiar, and backed by decades of design expertise—especially now that Crawford and Perkins are in the fold. But while the decision may be smart business, it also reveals the challenge of being both a D&D juggernaut and a budding RPG publisher. If Critical Role wants Daggerheart to truly succeed, at some point they’ll need to show they have the same faith in it that they’re asking from the rest of us.
