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Critical Role's Matthew Mercer is a lot of things to a lot of fans (some rather inappropriate, depending on who you ask), but every Critter would likely agree that he has the uncanny ability to make his audience laugh. Well, that sense of humor is some of what we got during his panel at PAX Unplugged 2024, but when it came to describing one of his biggest upcoming ventures, there wasn't a whole lot of room for chuckles. According to Mercer himself, the campaign he designed for the forthcoming fantasy TTRPG Daggerheart will be

OK, let's back up. Mercer was part of a Daggerheart exclusive look panel that also featured fellow cast members Ashley Johnson and Masood Haque, plus Daggerheart creatives Spencer Aitken, Shaun Ellis, Dani Gage, Elise Rezendes, and Rowan Hall. About 15 minutes into the discussion, the topic shifted to the varying pre-built campaigns that will come with the upcoming fantasy TTRPG. Mercer explained the vision for his own campaign, Age of Umbra, and, well, it was certainly varied.

"The campaign I created, Age of Umbra, is [similar to] a Soulsbourne," he told PAX U, referring to video games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, known for their bleak fantasy settings and punishing gameplay. "It is a dark, challenging very grim place by design. In Daggerheart, our menagerie games are very silly and very fun and lean on flexing and going over the top with our characters. Age of Umbra is meant to be the opposite. It is a landscape that has been without gods for over 100 years; they abandoned the people and the realm itself is kind of rotting and dying. The survivors that exist there have to hold on to what community there is to get by as the dark things in the shadows grow darker and larger as time passes."

Jeez, dude.

But here's where things get even darker (and, admittedly, more interesting). Part of what the Daggerheart creatives did with their campaigns is style gameplay mechanics to match the tone of their stories. So for sillier, more tongue-in-cheek campaigns like BeastFeast, the gamplay is lighter. But for Age of Umbra, well, let Mr. Mercer tell it.

"There are threats and dangers whenever you rest that might give the GM more Fear [Editor's note: "Fear" are the points that antagonists use in Daggerheart, versus the heroes' "Hope"]. You might actually be attacked before you finish resting, so you want to have somebody take the Watch action while you have downtime to mitigate that danger. There are mechanics in this [campain] to set that theme that no place is really safe. There are things lurking out there and there's longstanding corruption beyond just damage that exists in this space."

Wow. It sure seems like Age of Umbra is for a very particular kind of TTRPG fan, one that doesn't mind coming face to face with unspeakable horror while their beloved character goes through the absolute hell of trying and very possibly faily to survive it.

In other words, count us in.

Daggerheart launches Spring 2025, and is available for pre-order now.

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