A few calendar week agoCritical Roledebuted its new campaign : Candela Obscura . io9 had a chance to mouth withMatt Mercer , Candela Obscura ’s Game Master , and two players — Laura Bailey andRobbie Daymond — about the biz , the production , and what ’s next for the game at hand .
Candela Obscurais the first original tabletop act plot from Darrington Press , Critical Role ’s publishing weapon . It is a Forged in the Dark - style biz write by Spenser Starke and Rowan Hall using the Illuminated Worlds system , which is being recrudesce by Stras Acimovic and Layla Adelman . The modified - run series takes place in the fictional polis of Newfaire , a coastal metropolis with turn - of - the - century Edwardian aesthesia and a creeping dread from bleeding magick of the under - metropolis .
Linda Codega , io9 : Can you give me a curt bio for your reference ?
Screenshot:Critical Role
Laura Bailey : I do n’t wanna give too much off — I’ll say that Arlo Black grew up in the high society of New Haven . She had a certain path set in front of her , but when she was … confront … by a withering paranormal effect , she became quite a different someone . Because of what happened , she basically lives half in a ghostly realm and half out . And she ’s often distracted with the activity she sees that others are unaware of .
Robbie Daymond : Without giving too much aside , Howard ’s a genuine creep . I love take aim tropes and turning them on their head . He ’s like a punchy lab wizard scientist . The same way I kind of wanted to make a battle Bard with Campaign Three , I wanted to make this smarty pants who ’s also the tank . Howard is a human being of whodunit . He ’s a compulsive , exacting , hyper - intellectual reductionist , who does n’t understand the foolishness that is spread out around him and wants desperately to , and throughout this journeying he will either learn to lean in or be run through . Dr. Howard is not to be piddle with and you ’ll soon see why .
io9 : What aspects of the supernatural repugnance literary genre are you most activated about ?
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Nathaniel Bailey : I fuck to be scared . I think the matter that always receive me the most is what our intellect are up to of coming up with when we ca n’t really see what is coming after us . And to have someone like Matt Mercer escaped in an environment where he can total up with entities and scenario that are straight out of a nightmare is really fun . It makes you desire to list in and brood your eyes at the same time .
Daymond : I do love a good spooky narration . I ’m a big revulsion movie fan . I ca n’t say my favorite matter is like , you make love , the cheap thrill , Fangoria , you know , splatter slasher flick . But I really bed esthetic horror picture that are genuinely scary . The affair is one of my favorite movies of all time . I love the Evil Dead trilogy . I jazz Phantasm and Poltergeist . Some of my favorites and mod classics like Hereditary and Suspiria , I think , are really really pleasurable films if they ’re done well .
I love those types of narrative , and fetch them into the Critical Role blank , by choosing a part and forming relationships with other multitude at the tabular array is just such an alluring , exciting panorama of this whole project . I have to frankly say , sitting at that table surround with those people is some of the most creatively nurture and fulfilling experience that you could have as an player , because everyone is 100 % invested with you . Even when they ’re goofing around at the board , they ’ll drop a bit of [ roleplay ] and they ’ll snap right into it , and you ’re there .
Screenshot:Critical Role
So I am overall so stoked to bet , as a player . But the thing I ’m most excited about is after those deferred payment roll , and the first episode ’s over , or the last episode ’s over , I ca n’t wait for the people watch out to go play . I had so much fun at the table , playing with everyone that I desire them to have that experience . I cerebrate it ’s a really accessible , fun , bite - sized experience that you may make a whole meal out of [ with ] your champion . And if anything , I ’m just most excited about get a line about other people ’s stories flirt it
io9 : How does this system corroborate the supernatural revulsion Candela Obscura is going for ? What about this secret plan is built to facilitate those Edwardian spiritualism vibes ?
Matt Mercer : The Illuminated Worlds system of rules is an elegant and streamlined system for a pack of genre , much like the games that inspired it , allowing us to cut it to Candela and the moods / themes we want to search within it rather easily . It allows fleshing out of the role player options and abilities to allow fiber to find moment to shine throughout an investigation and offer tools to undertake originative solutions to challenging problem . Players feel gift but flimsy against unknown affright , and you are continuously crowd to find and habituate what you’re able to to bring home the bacon beyond just “ dealing the most terms . ” Every action moves the story forward in some style , with five out of the six straight die outcomes bringing some form of aftermath or complication , so there is a horse sense of risk and risk to every action that is both exciting and play well into the tension and stakes of a dangerous mediaeval horror setting .
Screenshot:Critical Role
io9 : You ’ve guested on a ton of Critical Role projects — what keeps you coming back to TTRPG Actual Plays ?
Daymond : What keep me come back to TTRPG genuine plays ? Why did they keep asking me ? I do n’t know . As long as they keep require me I ’m gon na keep saying yes . They ’re awesome ! I feel like as a lifelong performing artist and improviser that this is a mass medium that I ’d never really envisage myself in . I mean , had it not been for a phone call from [ Critical Role ’s ] Marisha [ Ray ] , you know , two and a one-half or three years ago , I definitely would n’t be pursuing this by any means . But now that I ’m here , dong dang it sure is fun ! I mean , I jazz the community . I screw the narration . I love the ability to create and own a character and I love the connexion you could produce . I love lifting up my other artists at the mesa . And I know just roleplay . How often do you get to mark down your phone for five hour and just go into a magical earthly concern with the mass that you have intercourse ? Everyone at that board has become a friend and I enjoy them as the great unwashed and observe them as artists immensely . I will roll whenever they want me to .
io9 : What was it like learning this new system of rules ?
Nathaniel Bailey : It was actually really well-off to pick up the system . We drop a few hours going over a lot of the options for build characters . That ’s always the affair I want to drop the most time on , because it ’s somebody you ’re go to be with for quite for a while . There ’s a really fun ambit of character type to choose from and each comes with a unique skill set . The fun part is that the arrangement really makes you aware of your environment . It help you think outside the box and figure out ways to use your environs to help you .
io9 : This is the first full effort to be played not only in a totally novel system , but in a unparalleled system . Are you excited to try something new ?
Mercer : I am by all odds delirious ! Being able to incline into dissimilar organisation with vary genres is both stimulating and rewarding . While I deeply revel our chief Critical Role campaigns , and it ’s where my meat lies , being able-bodied to inflate on occasion and fiddle with new game systems keeps our minds fresh and mad out of doors of Exandria . I grew up playing many different TTRPGs , and receive the breadth of organization out there that be , or make your own , only helps to shore up your science while providing new joy .
New episode of Candela Obscura atmosphere on the last Thursday of each month on Critical Role’sTwitchandYouTubechannels . Podcast instalment and YouTube VOD will be usable two weeks after the initial broadcast .
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Linda Codega
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