This Week in RPGs: Two D&D Legends Jump to Daggerheart, Plus Netflix’s New Ravenloft Series

This week’s biggest tabletop story isn’t a new rulebook, it’s a defection. Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins, two of the designers most responsible for modern Dungeons & Dragons, have signed on with Darrington Press to build new Daggerheart content, and they’re not the only familiar names making the jump.

Netflix also confirmed a new Ravenloft series this week while quietly cancelling its Forgotten Realms show, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 5e’s PDF finally landed, and Munchkin is becoming a proper 5.5e-compatible RPG. Several crowdfunding campaigns close this week too, Critical Role keeps up its usual pace, and this week’s GM tip comes straight out of a very online argument about Kickstarter merch. Catch up on last week’s issue if you missed the Chris Cocks news at Wizards of the Coast.

Story	Category	Key Detail	Why It Matters
Crawford, Perkins, Baker and Ellis join Darrington Press	Creator News	Building new Daggerheart settings, announced this week	Major 5e designers are now building for D&D’s biggest narrative rival
Netflix greenlights a Ravenloft series	Media & TV	Forgotten Realms Netflix series quietly cancelled the same week	A Strahd origin story now has real screen momentum
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 5e PDF	New Release	Cubicle 7, PDF available from 11 September	Digital-first and VTT groups can finally buy in
Munchkin becomes a 5.5e RPG	New Release / Crowdfunding	Crowdfunds October 2026, built on 2024 D&D rules	A lighter, comedic one-shot option compatible with existing 5e groups
Jadestorm crowdfunding closes	Crowdfunding	Onyx Path, BackerKit ends 17 September, $30 tier	Last call for a wuxia/xianxia jade-magic setting
Kickstarter merch markup debate	Community Trend	EN World thread; a $120 dice set priced roughly 6x comparable retail	Worth knowing before you back a big campaign

Headline News: Two D&D Legends Sign On to Build Daggerheart’s Future

Jeremy Crawford (lead designer of the 2024 D&D rules) and Chris Perkins (longtime D&D story designer) have joined Darrington Press to develop a new, hellish-themed Daggerheart setting and a connected adventure series. They’re joined by Eberron creator Keith Baker and Jenn Ellis of Twogether Studio, who are building a separate, original Daggerheart world.

This is as clear a signal as the industry gets. Two of the people most responsible for the shape of modern D&D are now building content for its biggest narrative-first rival, and Daggerheart’s ambitions just got a lot more concrete. If you haven’t run the system yet, our guide to game mastering in Daggerheart and our Daggerheart review are both good starting points before this new content lands.

Key Details:

• Announced this week via Darrington Press
• Both projects are new Daggerheart settings, not D&D content
• No release dates confirmed yet

New This Week

Tabletop Releases

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 5th Edition – Cubicle 7 | PDF now available The physical core rulebook has been out for a while; the PDF dropped 11 September, so remote and VTT-first groups can finally buy in without waiting on shipping. Available: cubicle7games.com

Munchkin 5.5e – Lynnvander Studios / Steve Jackson Games | Crowdfunding October 2026 The card game is becoming a full RPG built on D&D’s 2024 rules, complete with a Paladin subclass called Oath of the Killjoy and a playable Mimic species. A cheeky pickup for groups wanting a lighter one-shot, and if you’re still getting your head around what actually changed in the 2024 rules, our breakdown of D&D 5e vs D&D 2024 covers it. Available: BackerKit launch in October

D&D Season of Magic: Red Wizards’ Gambit – Wizards of the Coast | Organised play Standard store access opened today, 18 September, running through 1 November. Levels 3-5 across four sessions, with pre-generated level 4-5 characters now available for latecomers. For the wider context behind this season, see our recap of every major D&D announcement from Gen Con 2026. Available: participating game stores via the D&D Adventurers League

Digital Releases

VTT news was quiet this week. Foundry’s officially licensed Daggerheart modules (core rulebook, Hope and Fear expansion, custom Duality Dice) remain in pre-order for Q4 delivery, and D&D Beyond has teased its Q4 partnered-content roadmap without full details yet.

Actual Play Corner

Critical Role kept up its usual weekly rhythm, with Campaign 4 episode “Rock and Flame” recapped on 16 September, continuing the story we’ve followed since Campaign 4’s return was confirmed. More interesting for Daggerheart fans: a second season of the actual-play miniseries Age of Umbra is confirmed to be in development, following on from the Sallowlands arc’s original launch, and early word from the cast describes it as “brutal and relentless.”

Other actual play highlights: Dropout’s Dimension 20 has a new season, Gladlands, a Mad Max-style setting where communities survive through enforced politeness, GMed by Brennan Lee Mulligan with a mixed cast of returning and new players. Two more seasons, Toylight and City Council of Darkness, are already teased for later in the run.

Crowdfunding Watch

Featured campaign: Jadestorm (Onyx Path Publishing) – a wuxia/xianxia jade-magic setting built on the Storypath Ultra system. The BackerKit campaign closes 17 September, so if a martial-arts fantasy setting has been on your radar, this is genuinely last call. $30 gets you the PDF plus a print-on-demand coupon.

Quick hits:

Time Without Tide (Chaosium) – an original d6 dice-pool game about fog-shrouded misery and mirth. Ends 24 September.

Herd of Horns (Weaponized Ink) – play as dinosaurs managing a multi-species herd. Kickstarter launches 22 September, just after this week’s window closes.

Skullcrusher (Bloat Games) – a d20-inspired dark fantasy RPG that wrapped its campaign on 15 September, at just $1 for two PDF core books.

Community Spotlight

The most-discussed thread on EN World this week wasn’t about a new release, it was about merchandise. As crowdfunded RPGs increasingly lean on dice sets, playmats and statuettes to inflate pledges from an average of $50 to $100-$300+, backers are starting to push back. One callout: a $120 “Deathbringer” dice set priced roughly six times over comparable retail dice.

The comparison that stung: one campaign raised $464,000 with more backers and leaner merch, while another pulled in $1.3 million from fewer backers through heavy merch upsells. It’s a useful reminder to price out the core book on its own merits before letting stretch-goal extras pull you into a bigger pledge, which is exactly this week’s GM tip below.

Media & Entertainment

TV/Streaming: Netflix has greenlit a live-action Ravenloft series (a Strahd von Zarovich origin story) written by John August, with Alfonso Cuarón also producing, quietly replacing a previously announced Forgotten Realms series that’s now been shelved. Separately, the Honor Among Thieves sequel script is finished and shopping for a studio, according to directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.

No standout LitRPG release confirmed this week; if you’re restocking your to-be-read pile, our LitRPG essentials list is a solid place to start.

GM Toolkit: This Week’s Tip

The Tip: Separate the book from the bling before you back or buy anything.

Why It Works: This week’s Kickstarter merch debate makes the point better than any of us could. Campaigns increasingly use dice sets, playmats and statuettes to push pledges well past what the actual rulebook is worth, which is fine if you want the merch, but it’s an easy way to overspend on a system you haven’t even read yet.

How to Use It: Before backing a campaign, or eyeing a splatbook at your local game store, ask yourself one question: would I pay this price for just the core rules and adventure, no extras? If the answer’s yes, you’re paying for the game. If it’s no, you’re paying for the bling.

Example: A GM eyeing Jadestorm’s $30 PDF tier is paying for the game. A backer chasing a $300 tier for a $120 dice set on top is paying for the bling, and that’s worth knowing before you click pledge.

Bonus: This scales to your table too. A fancy GM screen won’t save a session; a rulebook you’ll actually open will. New to running games altogether? Our GM 101 guide covers the fundamentals this tip builds on.

Coming Next Week

Herd of Horns launches its Kickstarter on 22 September, Skullcrusher’s final funding results should be in, and Jadestorm’s BackerKit closes the same week we’re publishing this. Time Without Tide has one more week to run after that. Expect a busy crowdfunding roundup next issue.

Join the Discussion

Which of this week’s Daggerheart moves has you most curious, Crawford and Perkins’ hellish setting, or Keith Baker and Jenn Ellis’ original world? Share your pick in the comments!