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Interview
DARRINGTON PRESS
Critical Role Launches New Publishing Company Darrington Press Critical Role Launches New Publishing Company Darrington Press, with Four Original Games Set for 2021 Release.
Tony Verdini, Senior Manager dell’ufficio Business Development e Partnership Critical Role – team Critical Role is the most popular storydriven and worldbuilding digital media brand in the world. While it started off as a roleplaying game between a group of friends in 2012, Critical Role has since evolved into a multiplatform entertainment phenomenon that has branched out into a variety of shows and endeavors, including the flagship show Critical Role, comic books, animation, live performances, podcasts, fan art, graphic novels, philanthropy through Critical Role Foundation, and more. A passionate and engaged community tunes in each week to watch their favorite storytellers take on new adventures led by veteran voice actor Matthew Mercer and composed of other well-known voice actors Ashley Johnson, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffe, Travis Willingham, Sam Riegel, Laura Bailey and
Liam O’Brien. Engrossed in the stories, characters, and camaraderie, over half a million regular viewers watch every week and hundreds of thousands more per month continue to discover Critical Role for the first time. The great success achieved prompted Critical Role to embark with confidence
on a new adventure: it has recently officially launched a publishing house of board games, the Darrington Press. Darrington Press will feature games in and outside of Exandria, the world conceived by Darrington Press Creative Advisor, Critical Role’s Chief Creative Officer and Game Master, Matthew Mercer. Leading this new business venture is the the Head of Darrington Press, Ivan Van Norman, who has been producing tabletop games and media content for over 10 years as a co-owner of Hunters Entertainment (Alice is Missing, Altered Carbon, Outbreak: Undead), as well as consultant to many other companies, including Wizards of the Coast and Hersch Games (Taboo). Van Norman has danced the line between media and design, working as a producer of board and RPG content for several digital media projects as well as a game producer on Will Wheaton’s “TableTop”. In addition, he served as executive producer of International Tabletop Day. Darrington Press currently has four games set to be released in 2021. The first is Uk’otoa, a tactical game of semicooperative card play. It is already available in the Critical Role online shops