Daggerheart, an Original Fantasy RPG from Critical Role’s Darrington Press, Announces Open Beta Playtesting

Today, Darrington Press, the official publishing arm of Critical Role, announced an open call to all players, designers, and fans to participate in the upcoming open beta playtesting for Daggerheart, an original fantasy RPG set to release in 2025. Starting March 12, playtesters 18 years old and above are asked to dig into the game, have fun, pick it apart, and share honest and open feedback around the game via online surveys on the Daggerheart website. 

"I'm so excited for people to get a sneak peek into the game we're building," said Spenser Starke, lead game designer on Daggerheart and senior game designer at Darrington Press. "It's been over a year of work behind the scenes and now we’re ready to show you Daggerheart’s current status. By opening this project up to the community while it’s still in progress, we have the opportunity to build this game together. The Open Beta will give us insight into what people like, what they don't, and how to best support the players. Throughout the development process, we’ll make changes and release new versions of the game based on the feedback we receive, which means you'll see the game take shape in real-time with us! I hope you have a great experience learning to play, and we can't wait to hear your thoughts."

Daggerheart is a fantasy tabletop roleplaying game of brave heroics and vibrant worlds that are built together with your gaming group. Create a shared story with your adventuring party, and shape your world through rich, long-term campaign play. 

When it's time for the game mechanics to control fate, players roll one HOPE die and one FEAR die (both 12-sided dice), which will ultimately impact the outcome for your characters. This duality between the forces of hope and fear on every hero drives the unique character-focused narratives in Daggerheart. 

In addition to dice, Daggerheart’s card system makes it easy to get started and satisfying to grow your abilities by bringing your characters’ background and capabilities to your fingertips. Ancestry and Community cards describe where you come from and how your experience shapes your customs and values. Meanwhile, your Subclass and Domain cards grant your character plenty of tantalizing abilities to choose from as your character evolves. Craft your unique character through the cards you choose and the story you tell, and become the hero you want to be!

Daggerheart’s open beta playtesting has three ways for people to participate: 

• At Home: Download playtest packets from Daggerheart.com or DriveThruRPG and play the game at home. 
• Digital Playtest: A character creation tool in partnership with Demiplane, set to host the Daggerheart NEXUS for playtesting materials. 
• In-Person Playtest: Select Darrington Press Guild stores will be offered physical playtesting packets to host playtesting sessions at their store. 

To kick off the open beta launch on March 12, Critical Role will roll out exciting content throughout the day on Critical Role’s Twitch (twitch.tv/criticalrole) and YouTube (youtube.com/criticalrole) channels to support the playtest and provide further details and deep dives into Daggerheart, including the cast of Critical Role playtesting Daggerheart live at 7pm Pacific.

For more information on how to participate in the Daggerheart Open Beta, visit daggerheart.com.