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News Roundup: Critical Role Campaign 4 Sparks a Surge of Interest from Fans
Critical Role's latest campaign began with at least 180,000 viewers watching the initial broadcast of the Westmarch-themed campaign DMed by Brennan Lee Mulligan
Christopher Hutton
October 05, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes
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This week features the premiere of Critical Role’s new Westmarch campaign, Inkarnate’s latest policy on AI and new books from the World of Darkness.
In This Edition
Critical Role Season 4 Launches With a Surge of Interest
Critical Role Season 4 launched on Thursday, to great acclaim among its fan base. The first episode saw fairly significant numbers in attendance, attracting more than 115,000 viewers on YouTube, more than 40,000 on Twitch, and (according to TTRPG professor Emily Friedman) around 20,000 on the premium streaming service Beacon; significant numbers to consider for a premiere. It’s more than the average episode received, and I’ve no doubt it will get even more views once it goes on VOD.
Most premieres typically get more views than the rest of the campaign, so we’re going to have to see how it all pans out. But the social media conversations I’ve seen from the community appear to be eager and excited for this campaign, barring some nitpicky characters in certain forums.
[minor spoilers below]
In the meantime, the show opened with the hanging of a major NPC, who has connections in several ways to the 13 PCs that have been introduced so far, whether they are friend, foe, or simply a common contact. The story focuses heavily on the events following the execution and the various machinations of the players who all had their . The game often requires players to shift around the table depending on who is in the scene, allowing it to accommodate between six and eight players. I will be curious if we will see scenes involving all 13 cast members, and how combat might play out with such a large cast.
While this constant shifting of performers might seem somewhat distracting, it’s essential to know that this is just part of the ‘prologue’, a set of four episodes involving all 13 characters before the parties split into the three representative groups that Brennan Lee Mulligan will be DMing in the coming days. The groups will be smaller than past campaigns, which should make gameplay and roleplay go faster, I hope.
We are still in the very early stages of learning the intricate world lore, who matters, and who the key players are. Getting an audience invested typically takes some time at this stage.
Will the new campaign attract new fans? I’m unsure, but I do think it is a good point to enter the fandom.
The last three campaigns were all set in the same world. While you could easily have entered into C2 or C3 without knowing about past lore, the game was further improved with the inclusion of C1’s lore. C4 demands little of that, since the new world of Ahriman is new to both us as viewers and to the players.
Personally, I am intrigued enough with where the story is going to give C4 a chance. I had watched the launch of the last two campaigns before, but often dropped off due to time demands and being unable to keep up with the 4-hour weekly sessions amid real-life demands. I’m hoping I can last longer with this new game.
Inkarnate Affirms Ban on AI-generated Content in Marketplace
As we touched on last week, the mapmaking software company Inkarnate faced some pressure from supporters over allegations that it was considering allowing AI-generated content within its marketplace. The company’s CEO, Ingmar Gagen, made a formal statement on Discord confirming what was clear last week.
“No generative AI Art allowed on the Inkarnate marketplace,” Gagen stated. “Marketplace publishers must agree to this policy and all content submissions will be vetted by the team to ensure no violations.” Customers will be able to report these breaches if discovered.
“Inkarnate is a tool for artists and a community of creators. We employ a team of talented artists and engineers, and with the launch of our marketplace will be creating a platform for artists around the world to share their creations, and earn a living with their work,” Gagen added. “As such, it is our job to protect the artists in our community, and all artists.”
Inkarnate isn't the first TTRPG company to consider generative AI, as rising VTT alternatives like Quest Portal and online DMs continue to gain traction online, although their impact appears limited. The majority of fans online within the TTRPG space appear to maintain an anti-AI stance, although many believe the tool is acceptable.
Other Stories from This Week
The third supplement for the digital release of the upcoming D&D Faerun expansion wass announced. The “DLC” is titled Lorwyn: Last Light and features the region of Lorwyn-Shadowmoor as a “Domain of Delight,” introducing heavy themes of the fey to the setting.
It’s the Month of Darkness, so expect to see a lot of news and new releases from the White Wolf/World of Darkness crew. Especially as we approach the release of Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2, a game that has earned a lot of hype and scrutiny.
Critical Role released plushies of Fjord and Jester from Campaign 2 in honor of their upcoming wedding one-shot.
The Psion, D&D’s next new class for 2024 Fifth Edition, got an update in its Unearthed Arcana.
Fabula Ultima, the JRPG-inspired TTRPG, raised more than $1 million in a few days for its Celebration Edition, making it the seventh game to pass the $1 million crowdfunding benchmark in 2025.
Foundry and Cubicle 7 teamed up to do something special for the Foundry conversion of the Warhammer 40,000: Darktide supplement, where it will allow players to convert in-game characters from the video game into playable archetypes.
Mothership’s publisher banned third-party creators from publishing content with generative AI included.
The board game and TTRPG lobbying group known as the Game Manufacturers Association relabeled itself as GAMA: The Tabletop Game Association. Board Game Wire and Rascal have two good pieces explaining this policy decision.
Haunted Table Games’ Triangle Agency is getting a new supplement that will provide a set world based in an Illinois university with the hope of making it easier for storytellers to begin telling tales in their world.
7th Sea’s upcoming Kickstarter will fund a third edition of the game, although it will not reboot the lore or change a lot of the content.
Monte Cook Games is returning to Numenara, a setting it’s experimented with quite a bit in an upcoming Backerkit campaign.
The Gygax Memorial Fund is planning a Kickstarter to build a monument to D&D creator Gary Gygax in his hometown of Lake Geneva, IL.
Renegade Con 2025: World of Darkness Brings the Succubus Club to a Game Near You
Renegade Con is a twice-yearly event hosted by game publisher Renegade Game Studios, who is best known for the GI Joe, Transformers, My Little Pony and World of Darkness TTRPGs. The company traditionally announces its new releases at these events, noting the upcoming texts and what they’ll entail. This touches on a number of board games, but my interest is usually in the TTRPG space.
The newly announced releases will include:
Vampire: The Masquerade Live from the Succubus Club: A new sourcebook that will allow Kindred to lean into their musical fantasies and play as a rock star bloodsucker, run through new scenarios and get new traits
Werewolf: The Apocalypse Chronicle of the Black Labyrinth: A reprinting of an old White Wolf text that contains old copies of texts detailing some of the unique adversaries that the Garou face.
Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Coming Destruction: A collection of scenarios for storytellers to use to explore the world of Garou and help get new players into WTA
Hunter: The Reckoning Legacy of Defiance Sourcebook: A new source book that will offer lineages and tools for Hunter storytellres to expand both their player tools and their prey.
Mycologist's Primer: A system-agnostic text containing a plethora of source documents on fungi and how you might implement them into your fantasy campaign. It will also come with flash card variants.
You can read all about the details of this launch in their blog post.
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