Former Dungeons & Dragons designers Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford say Critical Role’s Daggerheart represents a fundamental change in tabletop role-playing game design. They argue that the system makes collaborative storytelling an explicit part of its rules and adventures, giving players a more direct role in shaping the world and narrative.

Daggerheart draws on ideas from D&D, house rules and many other role-playing games, combining them into a flexible system with room for further experimentation. Its campaign frames and adventures sometimes ask players to add details or steer events themselves, a significant change for Perkins after a lifetime designing more traditionally structured adventure content.