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Critical Role launched as a Dungeons & Dragons game, but the creators of the hugely successful actual-play show have since become one of Wizards of the Coast’s biggest competitors. Their publishing arm, Darrington Press, released the fantasy tabletop role-playing game Daggerheart in May 2025, and hired lead D&D designers Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford to continue developing the game. The company laid out its ambitious plans for the future of the game at a July 30 Gen Con panel, and its first big expansion is releasing in just three weeks.
Daggerheart: Hope & Fear is loaded with new options for both players and game masters. It introduces four new classes – witch, warlock, brawler, and assassin – each with two subclasses. It also adds a new transformation mechanic to allow characters to start the game as a vampire, werewolf, or ghost, or become one over the course of the campaign. Daggerheart uses cards to keep track of what your character can do, so Hope & Fear includes all the cards you’ll need for the new options. These include more species and a whole new Dread domain representing the dark powers witches and warlocks draw from.
New classes need new gear, and the Hope & Fear book adds more than 100 items like brass knuckles, caltrops, mage robes, and invisibility potions. Game masters can find more than 130 adversaries spread across the four tiers of play ranging from mountain trolls to banshees, to Lovecraftian horrors. The book also introduces an evolution feature for game masters who want to create multi-phase boss fights where defeating a monster just reveals its final form.
Game masters looking for inspiration can find four campaign frames focused on very different fantasy genres. Castle High takes place at a magical school, while Reign of the Weredragon evokes fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid. Fans of The Witcher can slay monsters and navigate complicated politics in Dark Heart of Andaluria, while the post-apocalyptic epic fantasy Journey to Horizon is inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Hope & Fear releases on Aug. 25, and preorders will get you access to a PDF two weeks before the physical release. A deluxe edition includes a GM screen with tokens to track fear – the resource used to activate adversary abilities – along with dice and pads of character and adversary sheets.
What other Daggerheart products are in the works?
Game masters who don’t want to splurge on the $120 Hope & Fear deluxe edition will be able to buy the accessories ahead of the holiday season. Roll & Play Press is expanding its One-Shot Wonders collection beyond D&D by releasing a book of 100 adventures that take just 15 minutes to prepare. One Shot Wonders: Daggerheart releases in the fall, providing material for all of Daggerheart’s official campaign frames including the ones introduced in Hope & Fear. Darrington Press is also working with Foundry VTT to add premium content for remote games.
