Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford, two lead designers of Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, joined Critical Role's publishing arm Darrington Press in 2025 to develop Daggerheart, marking a significant challenge to D&D's dominance in the tabletop RPG market. The two co-authored some of D&D's most successful adventures over the past decade, including Curse of Strahd, the best-selling D&D adventure of all time. Their departure from the D&D orbit signals that a credible competitor now has the expertise and resources to contest WotC's near-monopoly position. Polygon reported that both designers describe the transition as natural, building on rather than departing from their D&D legacy.
Daggerheart differs fundamentally from D&D in one critical way: it embeds collaborative storytelling into the core rules rather than treating it as optional behavior dependent on the Dungeon Master's skill. This changes everything.
The design shift carries real commercial weight. D&D has long relied on skilled Game Masters to create the collaborative experience players want, a substantial friction point for new groups unsure if their DM would enable player agency in storytelling. Players often face a choice: find a GM skilled at collaborative play, or accept a more linear, GM-directed experience. By baking collaborative storytelling into rules and adventure design, Daggerheart removes that uncertainty and appeals to players frustrated when campaigns become railroad adventures guided by the GM alone. For WotC and Hasbro, the competitive threat runs deeper than a simple alternative ruleset. Daggerheart is validated by the architects of D&D itself, a credibility signal that could shift player expectations across the entire market and reshape which system newer groups choose to play.
The two are already reshaping Daggerheart's future. Perkins is developing a massive anthology of over 100 new adventures, starting from blank slate since Daggerheart has only one or two published adventures to date. Crawford is working on a "spooky" campaign setting grounded in dark fantasy, incorporating Blood Hunter and Summoner classes. With two tentpole releases planned annually and a veteran design team behind them, Daggerheart looks like far more than a niche alternative to D&D.