Critical Role’s investigative horror RPG Candela Obscura will perform live on stage for the first time in LA

It’s a season of actual play live show announcements, and Critical Role’s spooky sibling Candela Obscura has just joined the action. Managing company Darrington Press revealed that the investigative horror RPG will take the stage of The United Theater on Broadway in Los Angeles on May 25th with plenty of familiar faces sitting around the table.

Designer Spenser Starke (currently developing the anticipated fantasy RPG Daggerheart) will act as Game Master for a new Circle composed of Matthew Mercer, Laura Bailey, Marisha Ray, and acclaimed actor guest Khary Payton. Taliesin Jaffe will act as the Master of Ceremonies, reprising a role he played on two of Candela Obscura’s previous seasons.

Candela Obscura is one of the first tabletop RPGs designed in-house by Darrington Press for both public play and short, anthology seasons featuring regular Critical Role cast members and plenty of guests. Characters play investigators pledged to a strange, mystical order known as a Circle and work to solve arcane mysteries and disturbances in the 1920s-if-mysticism-was-real world of The Fairelands.

VIP ticket holders will join the show early for a 75-minutes session where they can watch live as the cast create their characters and sketch out the Circle that will be played in the show’s Candela Obscura one-shot. Regular tickets will get you in the door for the event starting at 4:45 p.m. Pacific. Anyone who can’t fly out to Los Angeles will be able to watch a livestream on Critical Role’s Youtube and Twitch channels starting May 30th at 7 p.m. Pacific. A VoD recording will be published on June 3rd.

Critical Role’s success has remained cemented within the tabletop actual play scene, and the Candela Obscura offshoot announced its fourth season back in February. Along with Daggerheart, which is all but promised to power a future show (perhaps even the next main CR series), Darrington Press has established a small empire within the hobby.

That hasn’t stopped Dimension 20 from stealing a massive spotlight by announcing a live show at Madison Square Garden in January 2025, which almost immediately sold out one of the most prestigious venues in New York City. Brennan Lee Mulligan and crew are currently touring the UK, marking them as a worthy contender in the space.

Candela Obscura’s live show will start selling tickets on April 29th at 10 a.m. Pacific via AXS. More information can be found on the event’s page.