Critical Role's Candela Obscura Gazes Into the Darkness

A fewer weeks agone Critical Role debuted its newest campaign: Candela Obscura. io9 had a accidental to speech with Matt Mercer, Candela Obscura’s Game Master, and 2 players—Laura Bailey and Robbie Daymond—about the game, the production, and what’s adjacent for the crippled astatine hand.

Candela Obscura is the archetypal first tabletop roleplaying crippled from Darrington Press, Critical Role’s publishing arm. It is simply a Forged successful the Dark-style crippled written by Spenser Starke and Rowan Hall utilizing the Illuminated Worlds system, which is being developed by Stras Acimovic and Layla Adelman. The limited-run bid takes spot successful the fictional polis of Newfaire, a coastal metropolis with turn-of-the-century Edwardian sensibilities and a creeping dread from bleeding magick of the under-city.

Linda Codega, io9: Can you springiness maine a abbreviated bio for your character?

Laura Bailey: I don’t wanna springiness excessively overmuch away—I’ll accidental that Arlo Black grew up successful the precocious nine of New Haven. She had a definite way acceptable successful beforehand of her, but erstwhile she was… confronted… by a devastating paranormal event, she became rather a antithetic person. Because of what happened, she fundamentally lives fractional successful a ghostly realm and fractional out. And she’s often distracted with the enactment she sees that others are unaware of.

Robbie Daymond: Without giving excessively overmuch away, Howard’s a existent creep. I emotion taking tropes and turning them connected their heads. He’s similar a punchy laboratory wizard scientist. The aforesaid mode I benignant of wanted to marque a conflict Bard with Campaign Three, I wanted to marque this smarty pants who’s besides the tank. Howard is simply a antheral of mystery. He’s a compulsive, fastidious, hyper-intellectual reductionist, who doesn’t recognize the madness that is unfolding astir him and wants desperately to, and passim this travel helium volition either larn to thin successful oregon beryllium consumed. Dr. Howard is not to beryllium trifled with and you’ll soon spot why.

io9: What aspects of the supernatural fearfulness genre are you astir excited about?

Bailey: I emotion to beryllium scared. I deliberation the happening that ever gets maine the astir is what our minds are susceptible of coming up with erstwhile we can’t really spot what is coming aft us. And to fto idiosyncratic similar Matt Mercer escaped successful an situation wherever helium tin travel up with entities and scenarios that are consecutive retired of a nightmare is truly fun. It makes you privation to thin successful and screen your eyes astatine the aforesaid time.

Daymond: I bash emotion a bully spooky story. I’m a large fearfulness movie fan. I can’t accidental my favourite happening is like, you know, the inexpensive thrills, Fangoria, you know, splatter slasher flicks. But I truly emotion creator fearfulness films that are genuinely scary. The Thing is 1 of my favourite movies of each time. I emotion the Evil Dead trilogy. I emotion Phantasm and Poltergeist. Some of my favorites and modern classics similar Hereditary and Suspiria, I think, are truly really enjoyable films if they’re done well.

I emotion those types of stories, and bringing them into the Critical Role space, by choosing a quality and forming relationships with different radical astatine the array is conscionable specified an enticing, breathtaking facet of this full project. I person to honestly say, sitting astatine that array surrounded with those radical is immoderate of the astir creatively nurturing and fulfilling experiences that you tin person arsenic an actor, due to the fact that everyone is 100% invested with you. Even erstwhile they’re goofing astir astatine the table, they’ll driblet a spot of [roleplay] and they’ll drawback close into it, and you’re there.

So I americium wide truthful stoked to play, arsenic a player. But the happening I’m astir excited astir is aft those credits roll, and the archetypal episode’s over, oregon the past episode’s over, I can’t hold for the radical watching to spell play. I had truthful overmuch amusive astatine the table, playing with everyone that I privation them to person that experience. I deliberation it’s a truly accessible, fun, bite-sized acquisition that you tin marque a full repast retired of [with] your friends. And if anything, I’m conscionable astir excited astir proceeding astir different people’s stories playing it

io9: How does this strategy enactment the supernatural fearfulness Candela Obscura is going for? What astir this crippled is built to facilitate those Edwardian spiritualism vibes?

Matt Mercer: The Illuminated Worlds strategy is an elegant and streamlined strategy for a multitude of genres, overmuch similar the games that inspired it, allowing america to tailor it to Candela and the moods/themes we privation to research wrong it alternatively easily. It allows fleshing retired of the subordinate options and abilities to let characters to find moments to radiance passim an probe and connection tools to tackle originative solutions to challenging problems. Players consciousness empowered but fragile against chartless terrors, and you are continuously pushed to find and usage what you tin to win beyond conscionable “dealing the astir damage.” Every enactment moves the communicative guardant successful immoderate way, with 5 retired of the six consecutive dice outcomes bringing immoderate signifier of effect oregon complication, truthful determination is simply a consciousness of information and hazard to each enactment that is some breathtaking and plays good into the hostility and stakes of a unsafe gothic fearfulness setting.

io9: You’ve guested connected a ton of Critical Role projects—what keeps you coming backmost to TTRPG Actual Plays?

Daymond: What keeps me coming backmost to TTRPG existent plays? Why did they support asking me? I don’t know. As agelong arsenic they support asking maine I’m gonna support saying yes. They’re awesome! I consciousness similar arsenic a lifelong performer and improviser that this is simply a mean that I’d ne'er truly imagined myself in. I mean, had it not been for a telephone telephone from [Critical Role’s] Marisha [Ray], you know, 2 and a fractional oregon 3 years ago, I decidedly wouldn’t beryllium pursuing this by immoderate means. But present that I’m here, ding dang it definite is fun! I mean, I emotion the community. I emotion the stories. I emotion the quality to make and ain a quality and I emotion the connections you tin create. I emotion lifting up my different artists astatine the table. And I emotion conscionable playing. How often bash you get to acceptable down your telephone for 5 hours and conscionable spell into a magical satellite with the radical that you love? Everyone astatine that array has go a person and I bask them arsenic radical and respect them arsenic artists immensely. I volition rotation whenever they privation maine to.

io9: What was it similar learning this caller system?

Bailey: It was really truly casual to prime up the system. We spent a fewer hours going implicit a batch of the options for gathering characters. That’s ever the happening I privation to walk the astir clip on, due to the fact that it’s idiosyncratic you’re going to beryllium with for rather awhile. There’s a truly amusive scope of quality types to take from and each comes with a unsocial accomplishment set. The amusive portion is that the strategy truly makes you alert of your surroundings. It helps you deliberation extracurricular the container and fig retired ways to usage your situation to assistance you.

io9: This is the archetypal afloat run to beryllium played not lone successful a wholly caller system, but successful a unsocial system. Are you excited to effort thing new?

Mercer: I americium decidedly excited! Being capable to thin into antithetic systems with varying genres is some exhilarating and rewarding. While I profoundly bask our main Critical Role campaigns, and it’s wherever my bosom lies, being capable to grow connected juncture and fiddle with caller crippled systems keeps our minds caller and excited extracurricular of Exandria. I grew up playing galore antithetic TTRPGs, and experiencing the breadth of systems retired determination that exist, oregon creating your own, lone helps to enactment up your skills portion providing caller joys.

New episodes of Candela Obscura aerial connected the past Thursday of each period connected Critical Role’s Twitch and YouTube channels. Podcast episodes and YouTube VOD volition beryllium disposable 2 weeks aft the archetypal broadcast.

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