Critical Role’s new RPG is a whole cabinet of curiosities — and familiar mechanics

polygon.com:

Critical Role continues the ambitious expansion of its particular brand of storytelling with a taster of its new role-playing game, Candela Obscura, based on Darrington Press’ new Illuminated Worlds role-playing game system. On May 25, the troupe kicked things off with a free quickstart guide, released in advance of the full game’s publication at the end of 2023. Audiences got a first look at Candela Obscura in action with a new streaming series of the same name that premiered the same day.

While Darrington Press is not branding Illuminated Worlds as a system nor Candela Obscura as a game specifically intended for performed play, it’s clear that the rules are designed to get out of the way, avoiding lengthy rules lookups that can bog down live play. Mechanics took a backseat to character intros and world-building in the first half of the episode, but even once dice started rolling the system felt particularly well suited to fast, improvised action. Polygon spoke with several members of the cast prior to that premiere via email to learn more about the design inspirations and player experiences in this new system.

Candela Obscura is explicitly billed as a Forged in the Dark system, taking inspiration and some key mechanics from John Harper’s beloved heist RPG Blades in the Dark as well as Free League Publishing’s Nordic horror game Vaesen. While popular actual plays like Friends at the Table and The Adventure Zone have run highly praised campaigns with Blades, it’s notable that both are edited podcasts, where moments of looking up rules and the like can be pared down. Indeed, there’s a minor trend toward actual plays so heavily edited that they lean away from the sportslike pleasures of actual play and become nearly