If you’re in the TTRPG scene and don’t know Critical Role by now, then it’s probably like not knowing The Simpsons as a TV nerd. They’re easily one of the biggest companies in the space, and after two new hires, their standing is about to skyrocket for better or for worse.
Critical Role established itself on Twitch back in 2015 (happy 10 years CR!) and was met with an incredible amount of support. Their intense sessions, fantastic voice acting, and touching stories lent their following to soar, with it still doing so ten years later.
Of course, being a company, they only increased what they were producing to meet this success. We now have multiple campaigns, an animated series (with another one coming up), plenty of board games, a few of their own TTRPGs, and what feels like a D&D competitor in Daggerheart.
However, in latest news, it’s been revealed they’ve convinced legendary D&D game designers Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford to come out of retirement and join their team. While that’s exciting, I can’t help but be worried for the future of the TTRPG space.
D&D needs a change, is this it?
Now, before I start complaining or putting on my tin foil hat, it’s always a good thing to start with…well… the good things.
Critical Role is great, I’ve watched the first two seasons and loved them (sorry, season 3). I’ve got the Critical Role campaign books and am still begging my friends to let me play Candela Obscura with them after falling in love with the system.
As such, I know the company is completely equipped to handle a new TTRPG system well. I’ve seen it in action. I know how focused they are on storytelling and creative freedom over rulesets and ‘um actually’ style players. Each TTRPG they’ve created has that CR flair to it, and in the current space, that’s exactly what we need.
Let it be known I am a pretty adamant One D&D hater. I love 5e, I think it’s the best edition for new players and creative freedom, and I don’t think One D&D has improved on that in the slightest.
Combine that with the current ownership Hasbro has over Wizards of the Coast and the many controversies we’ve seen over the last few years, OGL license included, and it does make me wonder, is this the time for Critical Role to become the next Wizards of the Coast? Is it time for a leadership change?
Now that’s a complicated question to answer (though I did just ask myself that question, so it can’t be that hard). It’s time for a change in the D&D space, sure. In the last five years, we’ve seen D&D go from an immense strength to what it is now. It’s still strong, but nowhere near as beloved as it was in 2020-2023.
This is primarily due to the handling of the TTRPG and its controversies, which feel like they’ve left a stain on the giants in the genre.
Critical Role held no such controversies and would act as a brand-new lead in the space. Often, it feels like we need that right now.
Perhaps, with the top experts on D&D under their belt, Critical Role will take over D&D as we currently know it and bring all the best bits of the game without the stains of the current editions and companies.
How much is too much?
Critical Role‘s ability to really shift the D&D genre back into the popularity it once was would be incredible. To have a company so dedicated to creating great games for all to enjoy could completely reignite D&D for so many. But it could also cause yet another power vacuum (oh, here comes the negative stuff).
Without going too much into society and capitalism (because you did not come here for that), there’s a real air of certain companies owning an entire industry. A select few own the entire film industry, one or two primarily run our search platforms, and the same goes for social media. Even gaming is primarily dominated by a handful of very powerful and very rich companies.
After all, if you own all your competitors, well, they’re not really competitors anymore, are they?
There’s a real chance this could happen with Critical Role. Now, don’t get me wrong, having watched the cast for the last ten years, they’re not exactly those soul-devouring demons many assume CEOs of some companies are. They’re genuinely working towards bettering Critical Role and the TTRPG space.
However, there comes a time when you actively dominate an industry, which therefore pushes every other competitor down.
Now, Critical Role has taken two of the most influential people from Wizards of the Coast. What happens if they end up becoming more popular than D&D? What happens if Daggerheart becomes the new D&D?
Sure, Wizards of the Coast would drop down in its influence, but so would all those smaller indie companies who have worked so hard on creating content for Dungeons & Dragons.
Dominating an industry has always been a questionable venture in any situation, and it does feel a lot like Critical Role is close to dominating TTRPGs.
If they do, how will they continue to lift up other creators in the space, and how will they ensure that there’s room for other TTRPGs to rise to their level?
No orb of scrying will tell us
The future of Critical Role and Wizards of the Coast is something no one can predict.
But, with the introduction of Daggerheart and the hiring of Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins to their company, Darrington Press, there’s a very real possibility we could be seeing a massive shift in the Dungeons & Dragons space.
Whether it’s for the better and will create a new, more inclusive, and better world for TTRPGs or will allow one company to dominate the space in the same way as WotC is yet to be seen, but it’s certainly the start of something big.
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