Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford, the designers who shaped Dungeons & Dragons' 5th edition, have been quietly revolutionising Critical Role's in-house TTRPG, Daggerheart, since leaving Wizards of the Coast in June 2025. The pair have been working on Daggerheart products, including the first expansion, Hope & Fear, which was released last month and marks their first major contribution to the game's development following their arrival at Critical Role's publishing arm, Darrington Press.

Hope & Fear includes four new campaign frames, over 100 new adversaries, and additional character options and loot. Perkins and Crawford contributed one campaign frame entitled Reign of the Weredragon, which draws inspiration from Curse of Strahd, the best-selling Dungeons & Dragons adventure in history. The campaign frame centres on Forlorne Lykona, an evil sorceress ruler inspired by Disney villains such as Maleficent, who possesses powerful curse abilities—a mechanic mirroring the challenge design of Curse of Strahd, where players must gather revelations before confronting the main villain.