Critical Role fans can jump into an all-new, three-episode gothic horror mystery on August 30 with the debut of Candela Obscura Chapter 2. Based on the Blades in the Dark TTRPG system designed by John Harper, Candela Obscura introduces viewers to a non-Dungeons & Dragons rules set and offers an entirely different vibe than the main Critical Role campaign and several of its other spin-offs.
In the new season, Candela Obscura principal designer Spenser Starke (Kids on Brooms, Alice Is Missing) steps in front of the camera for the first time as Game Master, and he’s joined by an all-star cast including Critical Role regulars Marisha Ray and Travis Willingham, Dimension 20 GM Brennan Lee Mulligan, Luis Carazo, and Zehra Fazal.
“Matt [Mercer, Critical Role’s GM] set up the world so beautifully in Chapter 1, and that gave me the opportunity to come in and go a little more unconventional with my season,” Starke tells us via e-mail. “Now that we’ve eased audiences into this new world, I wanted to start off Chapter 2 by throwing our characters headfirst into the deep end. Also, because of the characters the players chose to make, I knew this chapter had to be substantially different from the last. We had a team of soldiers and medics, so I needed to give them an opportunity to showcase that—hence, this season is going much more ‘action movie’ in its approach to horror.”
One of those characters, Dr. Jinnah (Jean) Bassar, is played by voice actress Zehra Fazal, who tells us, “Without giving too much away, Jean is a skilled surgeon, with a sharp mind and a knack for putting bodies back together, which she did a lot of during the war. She desires very much to protect the vulnerable and is often dubious of magick and the harm it creates in the wrong hands.
“I started the game with a very clear idea of who I thought Jean was—and that shifted and changed and certain things were revealed to me about her as the story unfolded. In games and in media, I’ve always been drawn to cerebral characters who have a firm ruleset for themselves. A discipline, a code. It’s so interesting what can happen when that ruleset gets challenged. When they break their code, dealing with the moral repercussions of that. It’s so exciting to come undone and get lost, and rely on whatever you will find if you reach out. You will assuredly find something. But you won’t know what it is until it touches your hand. It’s thrilling.”
Fazal is new to TTRPGs, though she’s crossed paths with several Critical Role cast members on animation and video game projects including Sam Riegel, whom she says brought her into the fold: “It was a true joy and honor to be invited to this table. I’ve only recently started playing TTRPGs, and it’s an utter delight. From an actor’s standpoint, an RPG is essentially long-form improv. It’s ‘yes and’ with dice rolls. And when you get to play at a table with such talented and generous collaborators like Marisha, Travis, Luis, Brennan, and Spenser, the scenes just unfold organically.”
Organic storytelling in TTRPGs comes from the collaborative relationship between the Game Master and players. As such, Starke says, “I find my storytelling process is changed by almost every game I run. I try to keep my prep loose enough to have a direction while always playing to find out what happens, but that means I’m usually on my toes the whole game, listening carefully to what the players are saying and reacting in the moment. I’ve found this helps to keep all of us grounded in the fiction together, but it also means I have to keep my storytelling process malleable.”
In Candela Obscura, which overall boasts a much darker tone than other Critical Role productions, the cast is asked to lean into the horror elements of the story, which wasn’t a problem for Fazal.
“I LOVE HORROR,” she says via e-mail. “I’ve always been fascinated by mortality. I was the kid who always had ghost stories checked out from the library. I grew up watching horror films—my father often casually had on The Omen, The Exorcist, Poltergeist, and my mother and I had a weekly date with whatever horrible true crime TV movie was on. My sister showed me the movie Seven when I was 14. That may have been a bit much. Lately, I love the work of Mike Flanagan. Oh, and Ari Aster’s films. I could go on and on—horror movie marathon, anyone? Horror has always felt like a place to examine BIG human emotions like fear, sorrow, rage and pain. From a safe, somewhat detached distance.”
Starke’s preferred style of horror asks characters to face trauma through supernatural means, and he also cites the work of Midsommar writer/director Ari Aster and The Haunting of Hill House showrunner Mike Flanagan. He says, “As a storyteller, I have always loved narratively exploring the darker side of humanity. I think it frees us to go places we wouldn’t normally dare in our everyday lives. In particular, I think we see who characters really are when they are their most vulnerable and afraid, so to have the opportunity to explore that in an actual play space with people we trust is really exciting.”
Both he and Fazal say viewers can look forward to heavy character moments in Candela Obscura Chapter 2. “Specifically the theme of motherhood really emerged organically in our game, which was fascinating to see. Also, themes of identity and sacrifice came up over and over again,” he tells us.
“Family—both by blood and the ones we find along the way [is a theme]. Processing wounds passed down, both on the societal and individual level—how the decisions of previous generations shaped and molded us. What do we do with the legacies we’ve been gifted?” Fazal explains.
“The way Spenser cuts scenes and moves through the story and action is so precise, clever, and satisfying. And terrifying. There’s a moment he looked at me during this game that haunts me still,” she continues. “I believe and hope what is most pronounced is the humanity of each of our characters. Horrible things happen. We go to battle and we get scars. How we react to these scars and move forward—or don’t—is the story. Life is a bittersweet thing, but there’s a lot of it to be lived.”
She also notes that “there’s a scene right before the intermission of Episode 3 that simply took my breath away. You’ll know it when you see it. I will also say there were some chickens. Be on the lookout for the chickens.”
For Starke, the experience of stepping in front of the camera “reinforced the kind of storytelling I love—character-driven, high-intensity, and emotionally grounded. I also learn new things about the people I’m GMing for every time I play for them, so it’s always exciting to see my friends make decisions I wouldn’t have expected or take a scene in a direction I hadn’t thought of.
“Though on its surface this is an action-packed horror story, it’s also a story of deep love and ultimate sacrifice. Great horror movies for me don’t just show an audience their capacity for terror, but also their capacity for empathy and for hope in the face of overwhelming odds—and I hope this chapter does that for people too.”
Candela Obscura Chapter 2 premieres Thursday, August 31, at 7 p.m. PT on Twitch and YouTube, as well as in select Cinemark theaters. Episodes 2 and 3 will debut on the last Thursday of September and October, respectively, and podcast recordings and YouTube VODs will be released two weeks after each initial broadcast.
(featured image: Critical Role Productions)
