Critical Role and hololive bring Daggerheart to a new audience with Shattered Legends

Critical Role and hololive production are joining forces for Shattered Legends, a new actual-play series using Critical Role’s fantasy roleplaying game Daggerheart. Set in Exandria’s Shattered Teeth, the six-part adventure is due to begin in mid-November 2026. Critical Role havwe said the story will be canon to Exandria.

Matthew Mercer will Game Master, with Critical Role’s Marisha Ray playing Florence. They’ll be joined by hololive talents Nerissa Ravencroft, Mori Calliope, Shiori Novella and Gigi Murin. The series will be available on Critical Role’s and hololive’s YouTube channels, as well as Beacon. Beacon will also carry a Session Zero and after-show discussions; YouTube episodes will have Japanese subtitles.

I’m going to be really interested to see how this one pans out as the idea of mixing the live action Matt and Marisha with the four animated Vtubers is certainly an intriguing one. hololive have a massive following, and while they have a fanbase in the UK it is dwarfed by their Japanese, North American and Southeast Asia audiences. Early this year hololive held their first UK concert screening in London, and also made their UK convention debut in September at Vexpo, the UKs dedicated VTuber expo, held at the NEC Birmingham.

Two different kinds of entertainment company

Critical Role began as a roleplaying game among friends, played by a cast of voice actors and led by Mercer. It has since grown into an independent entertainment company spanning actual-play shows, books, comics, live events, animation and tabletop publishing. Its publishing arm, Darrington Press, publishes Daggerheart.

hololive production is a VTuber agency operated by Japanese company COVER Corporation. Its performers stream and appear as virtual characters, using digital avatars to connect with fans through live video, music and other online entertainment. The collaboration brings that virtual performance format together with Critical Role’s long-form, ensemble roleplaying.

Shattered Legends is an interesting meeting of the two, and certainly will be intrriguing to see how it plays out on screen between live action and animated participants. Both have very solid fan communities, which will no doubt have some crossover, but are largely independent of each other. It will certainly get Daggerheart in front a whole new potential audience, although at present no Japanese edition of the game has been announced.

The announcement also mentions a promotional convention tour for the collaboration, with appearances planned across North America, Europe and Asia. No dates or locations for that convention tour have been announced yet.

Critical Role’s 2027 live shows

While dates for the promo tour with hololive haven’t been announced, Critical Role has announced three dates for their own The Nerdy Best Friends 2027 Tour. The schedule currently includes one European stop, in Stockholm, but no UK date has been announced.

• 10 April 2027 — Toronto, Canada, Scotiabank Arena: Sam Riegel will Game Master an adventure with the Darrington Brigade.

• 5 August 2027 — Indianapolis, Indiana, Gainbridge Fieldhouse: Brennan Lee Mulligan will bring an adventure from Campaign 4’s world of Aramán to the stage.

• 9 November 2027 — Stockholm, Sweden, Avicii Arena: Matthew Mercer will Game Master a Bells Hells adventure.

Beacon members are scheduled to get a ticket presale on 4 November, followed by venue presales on 5 November and general sales on 6 November. VIP tickets are set to include premium seats and a pre-show Q&A with the performers.

The Stockholm date is Critical Role’s first Swedish live show. At present it is the only opportunity European fans have to see the group in 2027, with UK and other fans will have to wait for any further tour announcements for venues closer to home.