D&D Legends Jeremy Crawford & Chris Perkins Land At Darrington Press After WotC Departure
After leaving Wizards of the Coast, Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford have found a new home at Darrington Press next to some familiar faces.
How time flies. It seems like just yesterday when Wizards of the Coast was congratulating Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins for their years of work on D&D. After a legendary career at Wizards of the Coast, it seems the RPG design duo have found a new home—this time at Darrington Press, the publishing arm of livestream-game-turned-media-empire, Critical Role.
Crawford and Perkins At Darrington Press
In a move that is weirdly full circle, Darrington Press reported today that former WotC designers Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford were joining the game division. This is fascinating, when you consider that Critical Role became the phenomenon it did after the core cast/group of friends switched their Pathfinder game to D&D, 5th Edition, to play live on the internet every Thursday.
And Perkins and Crawford helped shepherd D&D through a meteoric rise that took RPGs out from relative obscurity and made them so much more mainstream than they had been in the past. Now, D&D is on digital cable. There are podcasts of people playing, podcasts about how to play—whole careers have sprung up where people just talk about RPGs in different ways. And now the duo have found a new chapter about to begin at Darrington Press.
Of course, neither Perkins nor Crawford are strangers to the Critical Role folks. Perkins, infamously, has guest-starred in two of the main campaigns, managing to live for a legendary eleven days. And both worked with Critical Role on the official WotC sourcebooks. According to the press release, the storytelling possibilities are what drew the pair out of a very short “retirement”:
“Storytelling has always been at the heart of everything I do, and joining Darrington Press feels a bit like coming home. I’ve loved being a part of the extended Critical Role family as a regular guest over the years and I’m beyond excited to help create new worlds full of adventure.”
– Chris Perkins
“I’ve always believed that great games invite everyone to the table, and that’s exactly what excites me about joining Darrington Press. This team is passionate, wildly creative, and committed to building welcoming, connected, amazing story-driven experiences – I can’t wait to expand on what Critical Role has already created to develop some really fun and unique games.”
– Jeremy Crawford
But a look at an accompanying article in the LA times reveals something a little more wholesome:
“I was committed to staying with Wizards until after D&D’s 50th anniversary, which gave me lots of time to work on succession planning and exit strategies. What brought me out of retirement was the chance to work with Jeremy and the brilliant folks at Critical Role on things that have a lasting, positive impact on the world.”
– Chris Perkins
“When they approached us about joining them, we happily said yes. It meant we could continue our creative partnership in a company whose mission and people we believe in.”
– Jeremy Crawford
Everyone should have a friend they like so much they just want to hang out more and do stuff with. I’m just saying, all other things aside, that’s what matters most in the world. At any rate, the pair already have ideas brewing for Darrington Press, so keep an eye out, it’s going to be a real interesting next five years.
I wonder what this means for Critical Role’s next big campaign.
