New Critical Role Campaign Revealed, Led By D&D Legend

Published Jul 31, 2026, 4:02 PM EDT Ben Brosofsky has been writing for Screen Rant since 2022 and editing since 2024. He graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor's in Cinema & Media Arts. Writing serves as a much-needed distraction from tackling a backlog of Steam games that will never be surmounted. Critical Role campaigns have brought plenty of people into the tabletop role-playing scene for the first time, and the collaborative storytelling enterprise is full steam ahead. Midway through the ongoing Campaign Four and the briefer Age of Umbra: Sallowlands miniseries, Critical Role has just revealed another campaign on the way. Like Age of Umbra: Sallowlands, the newly announced campaign will be using Critical Role's own Daggerheart TTRPG system rather than Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition. This time, though, one of the most iconic figures of D&D 5e will be taking the reins of Daggerheart to run the new campaign. A new Reign of the Weredragon live play miniseries will be helmed by former Dungeons & Dragons creative director Chris Perkins, as announced in the "Daggerheart NEXT" panel at Gen Con 2026 and shared on the official Darrington Press YouTube channel. Perkins joined Critical Role's publishing company, Darrington Press, after leaving his D&D role behind last year, and he wrote the campaign frame for Hope & Fear, Daggerheart's first expansion. The cast of the upcoming live play series has not yet been revealed, but it's expected to air later this year, so fans shouldn't have to wait too terribly long for announcements. In the announcement, Critical Role's original dungeon master Matt Mercer emphasized the live element of the campaign, as Critical Role has switched to pre-recorded episodes in recent campaigns. The Reign of the Weredragon campaign promises a fairy-tale take on Daggerheart's Hope & Fear expansion, seemingly incorporating some of the fear factor alluded to in the expansion's name. Sleeping Beauty is one major inspiration for the campaign, but it will likely forge its own narrative course overall. In standard Daggerheart fashion, players will also have some influence on the world itself, helping to "craft the big bad together" in this campaign. Chris Perkins and former D&D lead designer Jeremy Crawford will also have their hands full with upcoming Daggerheart episodes of Acquisitions Incorporated, a comedic actual play series that started during the 4th edition era of D&D. Perkins and Crawford oversaw D&D's 5.5e revisions before moving to Daggerheart, but they don't seem to be taking much time to relax after that effort. While Critical Role may never leave the world of D&D completely behind, its investment in Daggerheart continues to increase. Hopefully, Reign of the Weredragon will provide another compelling adventure of the quality that Critical Role is known for. Release Date March 12, 2015 Network YouTube TV Showrunner Brandon Auman Directors Marisha Ray Writers Sam Riegel Livestreamed weekly on Twitch since 2015, Critical Role brings together a group of professional voice actors as they play through a series of elaborate Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. Originally produced by Geek & Sundry, the series garnered a large and devoted fanbase during the first campaign, allowing the cast to create their own company in 2018. Matthew Mercer heads each campaign as Dungeon Master, with a cast that includes Ashley Johnson, Travis Willingham, Laura Bailey, Liam O'Brien, Taliesin Jaffe, and Marisha Ray.