Sean Winningham
Tonight at 10 PM EST will be the premiere of Critical Role’s Candela Obscura Chapter 2, which will live-stream on their Twitch and YouTube channels, as well as select Cinemark movie theaters. This chapter will feature a new game master (GM), Spenser Starke (who is also one of the game designers), and a new set of investigators which includes Critical Role players Travis Willingham and Marisha Ray, and guest players Brennan Lee Mulligan, Zehra Fazal, and Luis Carazo.
Watch the trailer for Candela Obscura Chapter 2 below.
What IS Candela Obscura?
Candela Obscura is Critical Role’s newest roleplaying game from their publishing arm, Darrington Press. Using the Illuminated Worlds System, the game is a paranormal-horror roleplaying game that is designed to have fewer sessions (called “assignments”), focuses on fighting and investigation, is driven more by player narrative, and utilizes a set of six-sided dice; 6 regular and 3 gilded.
The game takes place in the fictional continent of Hale during the early 20th century at a time when electricity and the industrial age were just coming onto the scene. In this world, the barrier between Hale and The Beyond is separated by a mystical barrier called “The Flare,” where creatures and magick seep into the world. Players of the game are investigators for the secret organization Candela Obscura, and the group is known as a Circle (for Critical Role’s Chapter 2, their team is called the Circle of Needle & Thread). Their objective is to investigate the incident that has been assigned to them by the game master and to try to stop any further threats from happening.
Candela Obscura was designed & written by Spenser Starke & Rowan Hall, with Illuminated Worlds System created by Stras Acimovic and Layla Adelman, and the original concept of the game was created by Taliesen Jaffe and Chris Lockey. You can find the full list of credits for the game here.
Although the full game is set to release later this year, Darrington Press has made a Quickstart Guide available for interested players who wish to play Candela Obscura. They also held play sessions at this year’s GenCon (which I was fortunate enough to be able to play while I was there).
NOTE: This game does include elements of death, body horror, violence, human cruelty, and intense paranormal activity.
Want to know how the game is played? Check out the video below.
Critical Role’s Chapter 1 – Candela Obscura
Critical Role has debuted the game on their Twitch and YouTube channels, doing a live-stream play of Candela Obscura during their regularly scheduled play sessions (Thursdays at 7 PM PST) once a month. They just wrapped up Chapter 1 with Game Master Matthew Mercer, Critical Role players Laura Bailey and Ashley Johnson, and guest players Anjali Bhimani and Robbie Daymond. Although there are a lot of great features about their gameplay, one that undoubtedly sticks out is the costuming and set. Each player is dressed as their character, and the players have moments where they interact with props and the set as part of their gameplay.
Watch all three episodes of Critical Role’s “Candela Obscura – Chapter 1”.
Who Are The Characters In Chapter 2?
With a new game master and players for the next chapter of Candela Obscura, check out their photos below and their Q&A about their characters/roles and what we can expect for Chapter 2.
