A Different Kind of Book Birthday (Patreon)

Today is the release day for Candela Obscura, an investigative horror ttrpg from Darrington Press (a subdivision of Critical Role)! With co-lead designers Spenser Starke and Rowan Hall, Candela Obscura is the first game using Darrington Press' Illuminated Worlds system.

This summer, when the Quickstart Guide was released, I did a video analyzing that document and then a video with GM tips for people coming to narrative-forward games like Candela or Blades in the Dark, drawing on my experience running Forged in the Dark games for years (Blades itself, Rebel Crown, Court of Blades, etc.)

Shortly after, the Darrington Press team brought me in to do some consulting work for them, providing an extra set of eyes on the Candela Obscura book and specifically the rules sections and play sheets. I also wrote the full Example of Play, which was a delightful exercise. It sent me all the way back to my M.A. days when I wrote a full example of play in the thesis so that the professors reading the thesis could know what ttrpgs were about.

My credits for the book are as a Game Development Consultant and for Additional Writing. These are my first game writing credits on anything remotely this big in terms of scale, and it was an amazing whirlwind experience. I'm so excited for the book to reach people's tables and help them create thrills and chills that they'll remember for many years to come!

If you're curious about the game, I just ran a one-shot over the weekend for Speculate you can find here.

And of course, the Critical Role team themselves have been producing gorgeous miniseries arcs of actual play, including this one run by co-lead designer Spenser Starke. You don't need to know anything about the main Critical Role series to watch these, they're in a different setting and totally stand-alone.

Note - Candela Obscura is a horror game, and while the one-shot I ran was more Indiana Jones-y in its tone, the Critical Role series go pretty hard in terms of horror, so be advised.