Former D&D Leads Chris Perkins & Jeremy Crawford Join Critical Role
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In news which came as a complete surprise to the TTRPG community, former Dungeons & Dragons senior design leads Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford have officially joined Darrington Press, the publishing arm of the popular Critical Role brand.
The story was first broken by The LA Times, with Darrington Press later confirming the news and announcing that Perkins would be taking on the role of Creative Director while Crawford would be assuming the position of Game Director, both of which are new roles and similar to their titles while working on D&D for Wizards of the Coast.
Notably, Perkins had announced his “retirement” from Wizards of the Coast in April 2025, with Crawford joining him shortly after. The two designers were seen by many as being integral to Dungeons & Dragons, both in terms of their work on the game’s mechanics, as well as largely being the public faces of the D&D brand.
The move comes at a pivotal time for both Dungeons & Dragons and Critical Role, with the former now looking to fill the shoes of two key personnel and the latter having recently released their new game Daggerheart, which is viewed by some industry pundits as potentially eating into D&D’s market share.
So just what does this mean for the future of both D&D and Daggerheart? Below, we break out all the details.
Who is Chris Perkins?
Chris Perkins is a Canadian-American game designer and editor best known for his work on Dungeons & Dragons. He originally began his career in 1988 under the pen name “Christopher Zarathustra,” publishing several adventures in Dungeon magazine before joining Wizards of the Coast in 1997 as an editor. Over the following decades, Perkins rose through the ranks, becoming editor-in-chief of periodicals, then a senior producer and eventually serving as Game Architect and later Creative Director. Perkins was a key figure behind the development of a number of major D&D products across multiple editions, contributing to the lore, mechanics and design of the game. Notably, he served as lead story designer on the Curse of Strahd campaign book in 2016 and played a major role in the development of the new D&D 2024 books.
Beyond his design work, Perkins became a beloved public figure in the D&D community through his work as a Dungeon Master for Acquisitions Incorporated live shows and the popular Twitch series Dice, Camera, Action from 2016 to 2019. He also wrote the long-running blog “The Dungeon Master Experience,” offering guidance based on his personal campaign world, Iomandra, which he continues to run privately. Perkins also routinely appeared in promotional videos for Wizards of the Coast, becoming one of the most recognized public figures associated with the brand, often appearing in his trademark black baseball hat.
Who is Jeremy Crawford?
Jeremy Crawford is an American game designer best known for his work on Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast. He began his professional career at Green Ronin Publishing, where he co-designed Blue Rose, a romantic fantasy RPG that was released in 2005 and won multiple ENNIE Awards. After contributing to other titles, including Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Mutants & Masterminds, Crawford joined Wizards of the Coast in 2007. He initially served as rules manager for D&D 4th Edition and later became Co-Lead Designer of the D&D 5th Edition rules alongside Mike Mearls. Crawford played a central role in shaping the D&D 5e ruleset, serving as the managing editor for the core books, including the 2014 Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s Guide.
Crawford’s work on the fifth edition rules was instrumental in helping to drive D&D’s popularity, with demographics shifting to include a significantly larger number of women and new players. After working on numerous D&D products, including major campaigns and sourcebooks, he was named lead designer on the 2024 revision of the Player’s Handbook. Over the years he has also appeared in countless promotional videos and actual play events, becoming one of the most recognized faces of the D&D brand. As an openly gay and married man, Crawford also received the Gayming Icon Award in 2024 in recognition for his impact on game design and LGBTQ+ visibility in the industry.
Why did Crawford & Perkins move to Darrington Press?
According to the LA Times article, Perkins and Crawford were approached by Critical Role shortly after news broke that the pair were departing Wizards of the Coast.
“I was committed to staying with Wizards until after D&D’s 50th anniversary, which gave me lots of time to work on succession planning and exit strategies,” Perkins told the LA Times. “What brought me out of retirement was the chance to work with Jeremy and the brilliant folks at Critical Role on things that have a lasting, positive impact on the world.”
“Chris and I talked about his retirement plan for years, so his approaching departure was long on my mind. When we sent the new D&D rule books to the printer last year, I felt it was time to explore a new chapter for myself,” Crawford added. “I love the game and its team, but 18 years is a long time. I was ready for a new adventure. The chapter that we’ve now opened feels like coming home — resuming work with Chris and returning to Southern California.”
Final Thoughts
The fact that Perkins and Crawford were snatched up so quickly has lead to some speculation that all was not well at Wizards of the Coast prior to their departure. The news also comes hot on the heels of another major departure from Wizards of the Coast, with VP Jess Lanzillo announcing that she was moving on.
For Darrington Press and the Critical Role team, however, having two of the TTRPG industry’s biggest names working on their games is clearly a major coup. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story in the days ahead.
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Cameron Nichols is a Senior Editor who lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and has been playing D&D since the early 90s, when he was introduced by his older brother and cut his teeth on AD&D 2nd Edition. Since then he’s played virtually every RPG he could get his nerdy little mitts on (including a weird Goth phase in the early 2000s when he rocked Vampire: The Masquerade pretty hard). His favorite D&D campaign setting is the Forgotten Realms and his favorite character to play was a Half-Orc Barbarian named Grug (who was unfortunately devoured by a gelatinous cube).
