Critical Role Announces Its Own Board Game Publishing Label

Earlier this year Wizards of the Coat released the first D&D campaign that took inspiration from the popular liveplay show Critical Role. Explorer’s Guide To Wildemount came out last March, and it must have done very well, because Critical Role themselves have decided to get into the business….in a big way.

Darrington Press, named after Sam Riegel’s Taryon Darrington character, will become a force in the board game business in 2021 with four planned releases throughout the year. One will be released every three months and they’ll cover a variety of themes. The first game to be published under the label will be Uk’otoa, a tactical card game for three to five players where you play as sailors on a sinking ship. The goal of each of you is to be the last to sink….because if you hit the water you’ll likely be eaten up by the massive sea monster whose name is on the box.

In the second quarter of 2021, look for Critical Role Adventures, a more direct product that sells on the popularity of Vox Machina themselves. This game is still going through heavy development and not much can be told about it at the moment, but we would imagine the finished game would resemble a session from the show.

In late summer Darrington will release Syndicult, an RPG designed by Matthew Mercer where the mafia is as powered up with magic as they are ruthless. Watch your step or you’ll lose a limb — or have it turned into a rabbit. Guardians of Matrimonia is the final release of 2021, a co-op card game where players battle a gang of monsters who like to crash parties. Defeat all the monsters and you all win, but they’ll claim victory if your deck runs out first.

The folks in charge of Darrington Press will be Ivan Van Norman, and Game Master (and creator of Syndicult) Matthew Mercer. Look for their games next year.