Critical Role’s Daggerheart and vintage Dungeons & Dragons headline Lucca60 in Tuscany

Lucca Comics & Games has unveiled the complete programme for its 60th anniversary edition, taking place from Wednesday 28 October to Sunday 1 November 2026 across the historic walled centre of Lucca, Italy. Organised under the theme of “Legacy”, the festival brings together prominent tabletop roleplaying game releases alongside international comics, digital entertainment, and pop-culture showcases.

Tabletop roleplaying games and hobby gaming take centre stage at the Carducci Pavilion and surrounding city venues, highlighted by an international expansion rollout from Darrington Press, classic setting revivals, and newly translated Italian editions. The event immediately follows the European autumn convention circuit, positioning Tuscany as a major destination for roleplaying games as the festival marks six decades since its 1966 founding as a comic salon.

Darrington Press Expands Daggerheart in Europe

Chris Perkins of Darrington Press and Elise Rezendes of Critical Role will attend Lucca60 to discuss the property’s transition from actual-play web series into a transmedia tabletop brand. Alongside local publishing partner Acheron Games, the convention hosts the European launch of the first Italian-language translation of Hope & Fear, the newest expansion for the Daggerheart system.

The mechanical package in Hope & Fear adds substantive operational depth to the game:

• Four new playable character classes
• The introduction of the Dread Domain mechanics
• Over 100 new weapons, gear options, and items
• 130 pre-built enemy stat sheets designed for direct encounter building

The title also appears among the official finalists for the festival’s Role-Playing Game of the Year award, competing against Dreaming Kadath, Legend in the Mist, and The House Doesn’t Always Win.

Joe Manganiello Curates D&D Icons Heritage Line

Actor and hobby ambassador Joe Manganiello returns to Lucca as the special curator for the convention’s Dungeons & Dragons programming. The slate focuses on the D&D Icons line, designed to showcase classic campaign worlds and legacy tabletop intellectual property.

Original Dragonlance co-creators Tracy Hickman and Laura Hickman will appear as headline guests to represent the setting alongside material exploring Greyhawk. Their appearance connects early TSR heritage directly to modern European player communities. Open gaming spaces will reinforce this legacy focus, with the Lucca Games Café hosting an official D&D Epic gathering on Saturday 31 October alongside the long-running Ruolimpiadi tournament.

Marko Djurdjevic Debuts Orken Fantasy Series

Artist and Sixmorevodka creative director Marko Djurdjevic, renowned among roleplaying game enthusiasts as the creator of the post-apocalyptic system Degenesis, will deliver the first public European presentation of ORKEN. The project marks his return to creator-owned worldbuilding and epic fantasy across both art and tabletop design after decades of visual work for Riot Games, Marvel, and Sony.

The convention also marks the debut of Indiecore Distribution, a new Italian venture established specifically to distribute independent roleplaying games across continental Europe. Concurrently, local design receives a platform through the Fabula Ultima line by Need Games!, presenting the new Bestiary Vol. I with variant artwork contributed by legendary illustrator Yoshitaka Amano.

Convention Mechanics and Location Specifics

Crowd capacity remains central to Lucca’s layout. Unlike unified convention halls, the Italian event occupies medieval churches, public squares, and historic buildings across the municipality. Roleplaying game tables, LARP runs in Chamber LARP and The Citadel, and trading card play will operate directly within this fragmented urban footprint.